EPICS controlled sample mounting robots at the GM/CA CAT.

Journal Article · Sun Nov 11 04:00:00 EST 2007 · Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2007.08.096· OSTI ID:939330

Makarov, O A; Benn, R; Corcoran, S; Devarapalli, S; Fischetti, R; Hilgart, M; Smith, W W; Stepanov, S; Xu, S

GM/CA CAT at Sector 23 of the advanced photon source (APS) is an NIH funded facility for crystallographic structure determination of biological macromolecules by X-ray diffraction [R.F. Fischetti, et al., GM/CA canted undulator beamlines for protein crystallography, Acta Crystallogr. A 61 (2005) C139]. The facility consists of three beamlines; two based on canted undulators and one on a bending magnet. The scientific and technical goals of the CAT emphasize streamlined, efficient throughput for a variety of sample types, sizes and qualities, representing the cutting edge of structural biology research. For this purpose all three beamlines are equipped with the ALS-style robots [C.W.Cork, et al. Status of the BCSB automated sample mounting and alignment system for macromolecular crystallography at the Advanced Light Source, SRI-2003, San-Francisco, CA, USA, August 25-29, 2003] for an automated mounting of cryo-protected macromolecular crystals. This report summarizes software and technical solutions implemented with the first of the three operational robots at beamline 23-ID-B. The automounter's Dewar can hold up to 72 or 96 samples residing in six Rigaku ACTOR magazines or ALS-style pucks, respectively. Mounting of a crystal takes approximately 2 s, during which time the temperature of the crystal is maintained near that of liquid nitrogen.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
• Sponsoring Organization: National Cancer Inst.; National Inst.of General Medical Science
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 939330
• Report Number(s): ANL/BIO/JA-60440
• Journal Information: Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, Journal Name: Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A Journal Issue: 1 ; Nov. 11, 2007 Vol. 582; ISSN NIMAER; ISSN 0168-9002
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: ENGLISH

Related Subjects

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
ADVANCED LIGHT SOURCE
ADVANCED PHOTON SOURCE
ALIGNMENT
BENDING
BIOLOGY
CRYSTALLOGRAPHY
DEWARS
NITROGEN
PROTEINS
ROBOTS
WIGGLER MAGNETS
X-RAY DIFFRACTION