April 5-11, 2005

Crystallographers Bloom at RapiData 2005

Once again this spring, nearly 50 budding crystallographers from around the world gathered at Brookhaven National Laboratory for RapiData 2005, a week-long course designed to introduce students to the best people, newest equipment, and latest techniques in the field of macromolecular x-ray crystallography.

The course is offered annually by Brookhaven's Biology and National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) departments, and is always a successful event for participants and instructors alike. This year, it ran from April 5 to 11.

Participants in the RapiData 2005 macromolecular crystallography course.

The course began with two days of lectures and tutorials taught by scientists from Brookhaven, industry, academia, and other national labs. Then, the instructors and other participants guided the students through a marathon, 60-hour data-collection session on eight NSLS beamlines. Half of the 48 students came with their own specimens to analyze, while the other half learned as observers. Six students left with solved structures that may be publishable in scientific journals.

The course was organized primarily by Bob Sweet and Denise Robertson of Biology. However, they emphasize that its success absolutely depended on enthusiastic help from most of the 24 members of the PXRR (the Biology and NSLS Macromolecular Crystallography Research Resource), NSLS staff members, and several outside teachers.

The majority of the funding for the course comes from the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Research Resources and the Office of Biological & Environmental Research within the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. Funding was also provided by the International Union for Crystallography to assist half a dozen Latin American students in attending the course. Additional support is provided by the NSLS and several equipment vendors and drug companies.

RELATED LINKS: Workshop Website

ARTICLE BY: Laura Mgrdichian

PHOTO BY: Roger Stoutenburgh