The newly formed Macromolecular X-ray Crystallography Core Facility of the Pennsylvania State University seeks funds to purchase state-of-the-art X-ray instrumentation: Rigaku Micromax 007HF X-ray generator equipped with Varimax optics and R-AXIS HTC image plate detector. The center is one of the Shared Technology Facilities in the Huck Institute of the Life Sciences that will provide services to the entire University Park campus. Our existing Rigaku RU-200 X-ray generator is part of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and is fifteen years old. Rigaku is currently having difficulty in getting parts for this instrument. Further, the flux of the existing generator is one-tenth that of the requested generator. The existing R-Axis IV and R-Axis IV++ detectors take a minimum of four and two minutes per image respectively. In reality typical crystal screening and data collection has taken two to three weeks in the past, limiting the use to about ten data sets between August and December of 2005. We need X-ray instrumentation with higher X-ray flux, faster data collection speed and easier maintenance. The new R-AXIS HTC detector is estimated to take a minimum of one minute per image. With the higher flux of Micromax 007HF, we expect the data collection times to reduce by a factor of four or more. With these advantages, we hope to meet the needs of the increasing number of investigators interested in incorporating macromolecular crystallography as part of their research. We have seventeen faculty members from two colleges and four departments participating in this proposal. Of these twelve are NIHfunded researchers and three have NIH proposals pending. The projects that will be addressed include viral proteins, plant proteins, complexes of proteins and nucleic acids and metallo-enzymes. Many of these will aid health related research. For example structural studies of poliovirus polymerase mutants could provide insight into attenuating RNA viruses for vaccine development. In conclusion, with the new instrumentation, our goal is to expand macromolecular crystallography research beyond just a few laboratories in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. ? ? ? ?
