X-RAY CRYSTALLOGRAPHY CORE FACILITY
PART
I: DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
Introduction:
The X-ray crystallography facility, located in the Biochemistry
Department, is a Weill Medical College (WMC) core facility.
The facility director is Dr. Temple Burling, and overall supervision
is provided by Drs. Hao Wu and Frederick Maxfield. This facility
provides equipment and expertise to assist investigators in
obtaining crystallographic structures of macromolecules and
in analyzing and visualizing protein structures. Potential users
should meet with the facility staff to discuss their individual
project. Some examples of use of the facility are provided below.
1. Collaborations. Crystallography can be a complex and
time-consuming effort. Depending on various factors it may require
years of effort to obtain a structure. In most cases users will
collaborate with one of the crystallography laboratories at
the Medical College. Collaborations may include preliminary
data acquisition in the local facility followed by data acquisition
at a synchrotron source. Co-authorship of potential manuscripts
should be discussed at the early stages of planning a project.
2. Assisted use. Some users may have sufficient technical
expertise to carry out data acquisition and analysis with assistance
of the facility staff. Only trained users with specific permission
will be allowed to operate the x-ray equipment.
3. Structure Visualization and analysis. The facility
has computer graphics workstations for display and analysis
of macromolecular structure.
Location:
E-009,
X-ray Laboratory
E-019, Facility Office
Staff:
Temple Burling, Assistant Professor, 746-6407, 66408
Hao Wu, Assistant Professor, 746-6451
Christopher D. Lima, Assistant Professor, 746-6449
Frederick R. Maxfield, Professor & Chairman, 746-6405
Facility
Description
EQUIPMENT:
The
facility currently has two Molecular Structure Corporation (MSC)
x-ray generators equipped with R-Axis IV detectors. Both an MSC
X-Stream and an Oxford Cryosystem are available for low temperature
diffraction experiments.
There
are SGI O2 graphics workstations available for display and analysis
of protein structures.
ORGANIZATION
AND SERVICES PROVIDED:
1.
Consultation. Consultation on experimental design and approach
is provided by the Facility Director (Dr. Burling) or a collaborating
crystallographers (Drs. Wu and Lima).
2.
Crystallographic Structure Determination. The facility
staff or a collaborating crystallographer will work on the structure
determination. It should be recognized that in many cases it is
difficult to obtain protein crystals that provide useful diffraction
data. Thus, no guarantees can be made, and the fees are not dependent
upon obtaining useful data.
3.
Structure Visualization and Analysis. The SGI workstations
can be used for visualization and analysis of macromolecular structures.
This includes structures downloaded from other sites.
PART II: FEES FOR SERVICE
The
fees for the services of the X-ray crystallography were set as
follows on July 1, 1998.
All
users must provide an account to be charged before using the facility.
Signed up time is charged whether or not it is used unless a replacement
user is found.
Initial
consultations to plan a project are not charged.
X-ray
crystallography instruments
$200 per day. There will be an additional charge of $40 per hour
(maximum $300 per day) for time spent by the facility staff in
each experiment. These charges will also apply to collaborative
experiments, and the allocation among laboratories must be negotiated
at the start of a project. Other arrangements for long term use
can be negotiated.
SGI
Workstations
Independent Use is $2.50 per hour (maximum $10 per day); overnight
use: $5.
Assisted use is $40 per hour additional.
PART
III: Procedures for Use of the X-ray Crystallography Facility
PERSON
TO CONTACT:
Dr. Temple Burling, Tel. 746-6407
SCHEDULING:
The facility is open Monday-Friday 9 am-5 PM, and after hours
at the discretion of the staff. Scheduling is done by Dr. Burling.
Users will be billed for reserved time unless it is canceled three
days in advance or used by another group.
BILLING:
Billing will be generated at the end of each month and processed
through the Biochemistry Department.
