This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Objectives The R&D focus of this program, known popularly as FedEx Crystallography, is to develop and implement procedures for very fast turn around on projects submitted by users. Often crystallographers find that iteration between crystal growth and data collection is required to solve a structural problem. Also, not infrequently with the more difficult problems, the data to test the quality of crystals need to be collected at a synchrotron source. A method by which investigators might realize rapid turn around is to consider one of our scientists as being a permanent experimenter in their groups, and then simply to send the specimens to us at the NSLS for data collection, and possibly a serious work up of the data. An ancillary objective is to provide local experience for the PXRR staff, which will drive the development of software and hardware at the beam lines, benefiting all users. Results During the past year Howard Robinson, Alexei Soares, and Annie H roux participated actively in this program. So far for 2005 and 2006, 22 PDB depositions have been made, which resulted in 14 publications, of which 13 had one of our scientists as a co-author. Work during this year represents projects pursued by 48 groups; the majority of these groups sent projects more than twice in the year for a total of 164 visits. The Mail-In staff mounted around 1200 crystals, which corresponds to 18% of all the data collected at the beam lines for 2005 (a grand total of 256,000 images). We estimated the cumulative time spent at the beam lines collecting and processing the data, and off the beam lines (producing maps , sending the data), to be about a full FTE since we spend about 20 hours per project and we have about 100 active projects. This program could not function and expand without being linked tightly to development of our database, PXDB, which provides an increasingly helpful platform for record keeping in the mail-in environment. The need for better book keeping for our staff and the users has been a major driving force for development of the PXDB. We are now implementing ways for the users to have a more centralized point of communication with the local staff through a bulletin board linked to their project. This collaborative approach is sought by investigators with a wide range of crystallography background, and by some who don t have a crystallographer in their group. The value of the added crystallographic knowledge provided by our staff is often acknowledged by co-authorship on papers. The program also draws in new types of users: structural genomics groups and pharmaceutical companies. These groups are heavily involved at other facilities with brighter beam lines, and they need quick access to x-rays for a huge numbers of projects and crystals. The prospect of combining the Mail-In program with the automounter (see below) entices them to seek some new partnership with our staff. Unfortunately there is no convenient mechanism to establish a partnership with for-profit institutions, so we cannot deal with this category of users. For four of the past five years, we have encouraged and helped students from Latin America to attend our RapiData course. At this year s course several were pleased to realize that they could have access to data collection through our Mail-In program. This opens a new horizon to users with limited access to home-source x-rays. We are eager to expand our pool of users this way. To facilitate communication Dr. Soares has created Spanish and Portuguese instructions on our web site. The limiting factor so far is the difficulty for South Americans to send frozen samples in shipping dewars, owing to massive paperwork at the US border. We are working on finding a better procedure. The overall PX users community benefits indirectly from the Mail-In program. Our scientists spend a great amount of time using the beam lines as users, driving the quality control across beam lines. They are immediately alerted if some maintenance or tuning is required at a beam line for a better performance. Significance This mode of operation has proven to be highly successful and is being implemented at almost all the other SR facilities doing PX crystallography in the world. The crystallography community has warmed to the concept of having local staff as collaborators (as the number of co-authorships highlights). This not only increases the rate at which they can obtain data but also boost their ability to pursue several projects that were stalled or in a very early stage. This program enables our staff to be active, productive, and up to date with the constantly evolving field of crystallography, specially the software component. This links our staff to firm intellectual contacts with the PX user community.
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