Just a reminder that we are organizing an ACA session this year on
microcrystallography in Knoxville TN. Please check out the session
description below and consider submitting an abstract if you work in
any of the topic areas. Students are strongly encouraged to submit
abstracts and will be considered for the Etter Student Lecturer Award
if invited to speak. A limited amount of funds will be available for
speakers from outside the U.S. Please contact Richard Gillilan for
details: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
The deadline for online abstract submission is December 15, 2007:
www.amercrystalassn.org/AbsSubmit/
Microcrystallography Session ACA 2008
(Session 13.14, Thursday June 5)
Organizers: Richard Gillilan, Ruslan Sanishvili
Frontiers of structural biology are continuously expanding. Membrane
proteins, hetero-molecular assemblies, multi-domain proteins, and
many other important biological systems only produce microcrystals.
Increasingly, synchrotron beamlines are evolving to meet the
challenges of obtaining good diffraction data from samples of ever
decreasing size. While x-ray optics, background scattering reduction,
beam stability, and mechanical design innovations continue to
improve, this session will focus on supporting technologies, data
collection strategies, and important biophysical questions
surrounding the occurrence of microcrystals. What causes crystals to
be small? Within larger crystals, how much does diffraction quality
vary from spot to spot and how can x-ray microbeam be effectively
used to collect the best data? How can we avoid or mitigate radiation
damage as a consequence of higher flux densities used with smaller
diffracting volumes? The session will also touch upon recent advances
in microcrystal recognition, manipulation, and harvesting, especially
within the context of high-throughput screening.
