Design and Development of a Robot-Based Automation System for Cryogenic Crystal Sample Mounting at the Advanced Photon Source

Journal Article · Wed May 12 04:00:00 EDT 2004 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1758015· OSTI ID:20652840

Shu, D; Preissner, C; Nocher, D; Han, Y; Barraza, J; Lee, P; Lee, W -K; Cai, Z; Ginell, S; Alkire, R; Lazarski, K; Schuessler, R; Joachimiak, A ^[1]

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1. Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Av., Argonne, Il 60439 (United States)

X-ray crystallography is the primary method to determine the 3D structures of complex macromolecules at high resolution. In the years to come, the Advanced Photon Source (APS) and similar 3rd-generation synchrotron sources elsewhere will become the most powerful tools for studying atomic structures of biological molecules. One of the major bottlenecks in the x-ray data collection process is the constant need to change and realign the crystal sample. This is a very time- and manpower-consuming task. An automated sample mounting system will help to solve this bottleneck problem. We have developed a novel robot-based automation system for cryogenic crystal sample mounting at the APS. Design of the robot-based automation system, as well as its on-line test results at the Argonne Structural Biology Center (SBC) 19-BM experimental station, are presented in this paper.

• OSTI ID: 20652840
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 705; ISSN APCPCS; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ADVANCED PHOTON SOURCE
AUTOMATION
CRYOGENICS
CRYSTALLOGRAPHY
CRYSTALS
MOLECULAR STRUCTURE
RESOLUTION
ROBOTS
SAMPLE HOLDERS
SYNCHROTRON RADIATION
X RADIATION