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Our Mission
BioCARS is a national user facility for frontier synchrotron-based dynamics studies in structural biology at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), Argonne National Lab. 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 the 48-bunch mode of the APS storage ring, BioCARS 14-ID beamline provides high polychromatic flux, with ~5.8 × 109 photons per 250ps pulse delivered to the sample. Short X-ray pulses are synchronized with ps or ns laser pulses for conducting pump-probe time-resolved experiments. The overall goal of time-resolved experiments at BioCARS is to understand basic biological processes in structural and dynamics terms, on time scales from 250 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 acknowledgment for publications resulting from use of BioCARS facility can be found here.
APS-U and BioCARS
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Recent Publications
Worth, E., Stadnytskyi, V., Cho, H. S., Schotte, F., and Anfinrud, P.
Rapid and precise temperature control of samples flowing through a capillary from −20 to 130 °C.
Rev. Sci. Instrum. 97, 025205 (2026)
https://pubs.aip.org/aip/rsi/article/97/2/025205/3378575/Rapid-and-precise-temperature-control-of-samples
Time-Resolved Mn Kα Emission Reveals Early Redox Dynamics in the S3 to S0 transition of the Photosystem II Kok Cycle.
Journal of Biological Chemistry 111215 (2026).
Linse, J.-B., Cho, H. S., Schotte, F., Anfinrud, P. A., and Hub, J. S.
Depletion of the Protein Hydration Shell with Increasing Temperature Observed by Small-Angle X-ray Scattering and Molecular Simulations.
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 147, 47117–47125 (2025)
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.5c13497
Hekstra, D. R., Wang, H. K., Klureza, M. A., Greisman, J. B., and Dalton, K. M.
Sensitive detection of structural dynamics using a statistical framework for comparative crystallography.
Science Advances 11, eadj2921 (2025)
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adj2921
Lee, C., Chan, A. M., Nijhawan, A. K., Ho, M. B., Kosheleva, I., and Chen, L. X.
(2025) Millisecond phase transition kinetics of lyotropic liquid crystalline nanoparticles observed by time-resolved small angle x-ray solution scattering.
Chemphyschem e202401072.
https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cphc.202401072
Science Highlights
See also: APS Science Highlights
Sample-minimizing co-flow cell for time-resolved pump–probe X-ray solution scattering
Kosheleva, I., Henning, R., Kim, I., Kim, S. O., Kusel, M., and Srajer, V. (2023) J Synchrotron Rad 30, 490–499
Time-resolved β-lactam cleavage by L1 metallo-β-lactamase
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. (2022) Time-resolved β-lactam cleavage by L1 metallo-β-lactamase. Nat Commun 13, 7379.
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.
CARS is proud to announce Dr. Peter Eng has been appointed the new CARS Executive Director, effective September 1, 2022. Our sincere thanks goes to Dr. Mark Rivers for his nine years of service and leadership to CARS.
BioCARS welcomes new staff member Eric Zoellner
Eric will be the new Beamline Mechanical Technician for Sector 14.
2021 APS Users Meeting – Workshop: Dynamic X-ray Crystallography
BioCARS staff Robert Henning, together with APS GM/CA and SBC-CAT staff, organized Dynamic X-ray Crystallography workshop at the 2021 APS Users Meeting.