At the present time we are planning to hold this NSF-funded workshop in person at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Attendees may apply for travel and lodging support.
Pressure is a fundamental environmental force experienced by all life on earth. How organisms cope with extremes of pressure at the molecular level has important implications for how and where life exists. As a biophysical tool, pressure probes volume changes; it shifts the balance of conformational states in solution, dissociates molecular complexes, and can even induce unfolding and phase changes in a controlled fashion. Thanks to advances in structural biology methods and instrumentation, this tool is becoming routinely available. This workshop brings together experts for an overview of a wide range of high-pressure structural methods and applications: NMR, EPR, CD, fluorescence, IR, SAXS, and MX. Special attention will be given to high-pressure SAXS with the purpose of making the technique accessible to non-specialists.
The lecture portion of the workshop will be followed by hands-on data collection and processing tutorials at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source.
At the present time we are planning to hold this NSF-funded workshop in person at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Check here for updates to the situation. Attendees may apply for travel and lodging support during the online registration process.
WELCOME HP-BIOSAXS STUDENTS!
Please follow the link above to register for the lecture part of the workshop. For those wishing to participate in the hands-on sessions, please follow the instructions below.
The in-person data processing hands-on tutorial session will be held April 9-10, 2022.
Students will learn the widely-used open-source BioXTAS RAW software and be expected to install and run the software on their own laptops. Please follow the installation instructions from the link below and contact us if you have any problem with the installation. It is very important to do this well in advance of the workshop. Using example datasets, staff will guide you through the basics of processing and interpreting BioSAXS data.
HANDS-ON & SENDING SAMPLES
Students who are selected for synchrotron time may bring a limited number of their own research samples to try. We will also provide standard proteins for those who do not have samples yet.
If you plan to send samples, you must apply for beamtime. Create a user account on our online proposal system and fill out a short “HP-Bio Workshop” beamtime proposal. Watch this video to learn how. If you have scientific content to put in the proposal regarding your samples, please to enter it, but the student proposals will not be reviewed for scientific merit, but only for safety. Be sure to list your samples and buffers for safety review!
IMPORTANT: put the words “HP-Bio Workshop” in the title of your proposal.
To help with your registration process, we will schedule several short step-by-step zoom sessions on how to submit a proposal.
If you want to just learn using our standard proteins, you still need to submit a proposal. Those wishing to simply watch on zoom do not need a proposal.
Detailed instructions for prospective users can be found here https://www.chess.cornell.edu/users/prospective-users-handbook
Please also check out our short How-To-Video on submitting the proposal.
If you are preparing your own samples for data collection, it is very important to do the following:
- make plenty of *exactly-matched* buffer to use for background subtraction
- use a buffer that is pressure-friendly
- make enough sample at the right concentration
- check to make sure your sample is pure and monodisperse (one species in solution).
Please read the information at this link for detailed instructions on sample preparation: Prepare for Your "Visit"
Note: Shipping Instructions are now part of the New User Guide under Two Weeks Before Your Experiment. Fill out the online shipping form and you will be given a shipping address label.
Using example datasets, staff will guide you through the basics of processing and interpreting BioSAXS data:
Bioxtasraw Download and Installation
Please contact me, Richard Gillilan, if you have any questions (reg8@cornell.edu)