Quick Guide for New Users

• When considering experiments at BioCARS facility, we strongly encourage you to contact BioCARS staff and discuss feasibility of your experiments. Please contact Vukica Srajer (v-srajer@uchicago.edu) or Robert Henning (henning@cars.uchicago.edu) about time-resolved crystallography experiments and Irina Kosheleva (ikoshelev@cars.uchicago.edu) about time-resolved solution scattering experiments.
• You can find general information about our beamlines and other BioCARS facilities here.
• All BioCARS users have to submit their proposals through the APS General User Program. APS New User Checklist describes steps that new users need to complete.
• Brief summary:
  • You need to register as an APS user and submit a proposal in order to apply for BioCARS beamtime. In your proposal, please select BioCARS 14-ID-B or 14-BM-C as your first choice beamline.
  • Your home institution has to have an User Agreement with APS. Please follow instructions on that page to check for existing agreement or for establishing a new agreement.
  • An APS proposal is considered standard if submitted before the APS deadline for a run cycle and Rapid Access if submitted after the deadline. You can find more information about proposal submission and review here.
  • Using your active APS proposal, you have to submit a beamtime request (BTR) for each APS run cycle. You can use your active proposal to submit BTRs for several APS run cycles if needed for your project.
  • Following beamtime allocation process, you will be contacted and informed if beamtime has been allocated for your proposal.
  • If beamtime has been allocated, BioCARS staff will contact you about scheduling your beamtime.
  • Before your visit, you have to complete the APS user safety training, complete Experiment Safety Assessment Form and notify APS of your arrival by using the Gate Pass Request tab in My APS Portal.
  • Information about sample shipping can be found on BioCARS Shipping web page.
  • You can find your APS user information at My APS Portal. More useful links for users can be found on the APS User Information