April 10-13, 2007

X6A Workbench Returns

After many requests from the structural biology community, the X6A workbench series is back. The “X6A Workbench: Advanced Structural Biology Tools” is a four-day course hosted by the NIGMS facility at the National Synchrotron Light Source that provides hands-on training in synchrotron data collection and analysis, offering a comprehensive insight into structural biology methods. Six young researchers were chosen to participate in the first session of this year’s series, held on April 10-13, 2007.

The teachers and participants of the X6A Workbench.

For the recent session, Seetharaman Jayaraman (New York Structural Biology Center, NSLS beamline X4) joined the X6A teaching team of Marc Allaire, Jean Jakoncic, Kun Qian, and Vivian Stojanoff. The six participants followed introductory lectures on synchrotron radiation, components of beamlines and detectors, basic crystallography concepts, and structural biology methods. Hands-on sessions included freezing techniques, sample centering, data collection, and analysis. During the freezing session, participants had the opportunity to try out new tools kindly provided by Mitegen. Molecular replacement and Single-wavelength Anomalous Diffraction (SAD) methods were employed by the participants to solve the structure of unknown proteins.

“This is the best learning experience I’ve had from start to finish,” said Kelly Jamieson, a 3rd year oncology and immunology graduate student from New York University. “We were able to go from the crystal to the structure. The instructors were so patient, helpful, and knowledgeable, and because there were so few people here, everyone had a chance to do something.”

The April session was the first of three sessions offered this year. The next two will be offered in the fall.

For more information, go to http://protein.nsls.bnl.gov.

RELATED LINKS: Workbench Photos

ARTICLE BY: Vivian Stojanoff and Kendra Snyder