News

A single human cell contains thousands of proteins that perform a vast array of functions, from fighting off viruses to transcribing DNA. By understanding the structure of these proteins, researchers can interpret their functions and develop methods for turning them on and off.

"The CHESS Users’ Meeting attracted a record number of 225 registered participants to the Cornell campus to look back at major milestones of the project and to discuss X-ray science enabled by the ambitious upgrade."

"By understanding how an essential enzyme is inactivated in an organism-specific manner, the researchers hope to contribute to the development of new anti-pathogenetic therapies."

Serial crystallography is a method for obtaining structural information on an atomic level of a protein, without the need for large protein crystals. Instead, small diffraction datasets are collected on many small protein crystals, which are usually easier to obtain than large ones. Serial crystallography is an ideal method for collecting diffraction data of proteins at room temperature, where the onset of radiation damage from the X-ray beam is rapid.

As antibiotic resistance rises, the search for new antibiotic strategies has become imperative. In 2013, the Centers for Disease Control estimated that antibiotic resistant bacteria cause at least 2 million infections and 23,000 deaths a year in the U.S.; a recent report raised the likely mortality rate to 162,044.

There is growing interest in the biological research community to characterize and understand the impact of high pressures, i.e. 100s of MPa, on the physical properties and function of biological macromolecules, e.g. proteins, viruses, lipids etc.

In one of the first commissioning experiments since the upgrade of the facility, the team of Aaron Finke and collaborators measured the first crystal structure at CHESS beamline ID7B2.  The beamline provided excellent quality data and a good refined structure from a fluoroacetate dehalogenase crystal was obtained as shown below. Further commissioning is underway. Even at this early stage, ID7B2 is definitely geared up to be a world-class beamline.

First Light at CHESS into Sector 7B2 Hutch!