Workshop Overview  
Since a number of us are currently developing or planning systems to automatically mount crystals of macromolecules (that have already been mounted in cryo-loops and flash-cooled to LN2 temperatures) on synchrotron beamline diffractometers, to greatly increase the efficiency and speed of screening and data collection, we think it is timely to hold a workshop in this area of development. The need for such fully automated systems is clear in view of the ever increasing demand for synchrotron radiation beam time, and the additional demands generated by structural genomics research programs.

The primary intent of this informal workshop is to discuss automated systems (such as purpose built mechanical devices and robots) to mount and dismount pre-cooled sample crystals on the beamline diffractometer. However, we also intend to spend some time on methods to electronically view and center the crystals in the x-ray beam. Please note that we do not intend to cover automated techniques for wet mounting macromolecular crystals in cryo-loops.

This is intended to be a small and informal workshop between people who have either, already built systems of this type, or have put a fair amount of thought into such systems with the intent of developing devices of this kind in the near future. We plan to have talks presented on the Thursday afternoon and early Friday morning, leaving plenty of time for discussion of ideas during the remainder of the Friday morning session. For those requesting to present a talk, please provide a title, and a few words outlining the subject matter to be covered. A slide projector, overhead projector for view graphs, and an LCD computer display projector will each be available for presentations. It will be necessary to provide a write-up of your contributed talk to the organizers on departure from SSRL on Friday afternoon to be included in the proceedings of the workshop.

We think that a workshop of this type will be very useful at this time, giving us the opportunity to discuss issues of compatibility in sample packaging and transportation between each of our laboratories, before our individual developments have diverged too far. 
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: 
ORGANIZERS: Monday April 17, 2000
Paul Phizackerley   (SSRL)   650-926-3431   phiz@slac.stanford.edu
Ashley Deacon   (SSRL)   650-926-5108   ash@smb.slac.stanford.edu
Thomas Earnest   (LBNL / ALS)   510-486-4603   tnearnest@lbl.gov
Gerd Rosenbaum   (SER-CAT / UGA)   630-252-0643   rosenbaum@anl.gov


Last Updated: 23 MAR 2000
Content Owner: P. Phizackerley
Page Editor: L. Dunn