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Our Mission
The mission of BioCARS is to provide state-of-the-art X-ray facility, scientific and technical expertise and support to enable users to study the dynamic properties of biological macromolecules by X-ray scattering techniques: time-resolved diffraction and solution scattering (SAXS/WAXS). In hybrid mode of the APS storage ring, BioCARS 14-ID beamline provides high polychromatic flux, with ~3 × 1010 photons per 100ps pulse delivered to the sample. Short X-ray pulses are synchronized with ps or ns laser pulses for conducting pump-probe time-resolved experiments. In recent years we developed and implemented these technologies that are now offered as standard methods to BioCARS users:
- Serial Laue micro-crystallography using fixed targets and crystal injectors to facilitate studies of irreversible reactions while minimizing sample consumption.
- Electric-field jump as a method for reaction initiation and studies of protein dynamics.
- Novel temperature-controlled sample cells for temperature-jump solution scattering studies.
- Sample-minimizing co-flow cell for time-resolved solution scattering studies of irreversible reactions.
The overall goal of time-resolved experiments at BioCARS is to understand basic biological processes in structural and dynamics terms, on time scales from 100 picoseconds to seconds.
Use of BioCARS is supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under grant number P41 GM118217. Funding acknowledgement for publications resulting from use of BioCARS facility can be found here.
APS-U and BioCARS
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Recent Publications
Chan, A. M., Nijhawan, A. K., Hsu, D. J., Leshchev, D., Rimmerman, D., Kosheleva, I., Kohlstedt, K. L., and Chen, L. X.
The Role of Transient Intermediate Structures in the Unfolding of the Trp-Cage Fast-Folding Protein: Generating Ensembles from Time-Resolved X-ray Solution Scattering with Genetic Algorithms.
J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 14, 1133–1139 (2023).
(https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c03680)
Dalton, K. M., Greisman, J. B., and Hekstra, D. R.
A unifying Bayesian framework for merging X-ray diffraction data.
Nat Commun 13, 7764 (2022).
(https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-35280-8)
Wilamowski, M., Sherrell, D. A., Kim, Y., Lavens, A., Henning, R. W., Lazarski, K., Shigemoto, A., Endres, M., Maltseva, N., Babnigg, G., Burdette, S. C., Srajer, V., and Joachimiak, A.
Time-resolved β-lactam cleavage by L1 metallo-β-lactamase.
Nat Commun 13, 7379 (2022).
(https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-35029-3)
Lee, S. J., Kim, T. W., Kim, J. G., Yang, C., Yun, S. R., Kim, C., Ren, Z., Kumarapperuma, I., Kuk, J., Moffat, K., Yang, X., and Ihee, H. (2022)
Light-induced protein structural dynamics in bacteriophytochrome revealed by time-resolved x-ray solution scattering.
Science Advances 8, eabm6278.
(https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abm6278)
Moreno-Chicano et al. (2022)
Complementarity of neutron, XFEL and synchrotron crystallography for defining the structures of metalloenzymes at room temperature.
IUCrJ 9, 610–624.
(https://journals.iucr.org/m/issues/2022/05/00/rs5001/)
Latest News and Highlights
See also: APS Science Highlights
Pink-beam serial crystallography
Meents, A., Wiedorn, M. O., Srajer, V., Henning, R., Sarrou, I., Bergtholdt, J., Barthelmess, M., Reinke, P. Y. A., Dierksmeyer, D., Tolstikova, A., Schaible, S., Messerschmidt, M., Ogata, C. M., Kissick, D. J., Taft, M. H., Manstein, D. J., Lieske, J., Oberthuer, D., Fischetti, R. F., and Chapman, H. N. Pink-beam serial crystallography. Nature Communications 8, 1281 (2017)
Combining ns temperature-jump pump with X-ray pulse probe: study of structural dynamics in insulin
Rimmerman, D., Leshchev, D., Hsu, D. J., Hong, J., Kosheleva, I., and Chen, L. X. Direct Observation of Insulin Association Dynamics with Time-Resolved X-ray Scattering. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 4413–4418 (2017)
2017 Science Careers in Search of Women Conference, Tour of BioCARS
(May 2, 2017) As in previous years, BioCARS participated again in the ANL-hosted annual Science Careers in Search of Women Conference this year (Click here for more). Participants were provided with the unique opportunity to learn more about STEM careers, in an effort...
BioCARS User Publication is One of 20 Most Read Articles in Structural Dynamics in 2016
Time-resolved solution scattering studies of a homodimeric hemoglobin conducted at BioCARS 14-ID beamline linked the perturbation in the water cluster at the dimer interface to the kinetics and structures of intermediate states in this hemoglobin. View on Structural...
New Technique Shocks Proteins Into Action
Hekstra, D. R., White, K. I., Socolich, M. A., Henning, R. W., Šrajer, V., and Ranganathan, R. (2016) Electric-field-stimulated protein mechanics. Nature 540, 400–405
Serial crystallography enhanced by graphene
Sui, S., Wang, Y., Kolewe, K., Srajer, V., Henning, R., Schiffman, J. D., Dimitrakopoulos, C., and Perry, S. L. Graphene-Based Microfluidics for Serial Crystallography. Lab Chip. (2016)
Light-Induced Protein Structural Dynamics in Bacteriophytochrome Revealed by Time-Resolved X-ray Solution Scattering
Lee, S. J., Kim, T. W., Kim, J. G., Yang, C., Yun, S. R., Kim, C., Ren, Z., Kumarapperuma, I., Kuk, J., Moffat, K., Yang, X., and Ihee, H. (2022) Light-induced protein structural dynamics in bacteriophytochrome revealed by time-resolved x-ray solution scattering. Science Advances 8, eabm6278.
On-chip Crystallization and Large-Scale Serial Diffraction at Room Temperature
Biju, L. M., Wang, C., Kang, W., Tom, I. P., Kumarapperuma, I., Yang, X., and Ren, Z. (2022) On-chip Crystallization and Large-Scale Serial Diffraction at Room Temperature. JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments) e63022.