12/3/2023 0 Comments Sound diffraction materials![]() "The idea that sound waves of great intensity near the surface of a liquid will eject droplets was demonstrated in the 1920s," said Brookhaven biologist Alexei Soares, a beamline scientist at NSLS for the Macromolecular Crystallography Research Resource (PXRR). There, the crystals are held in the line of x-ray beam. The technique uses intense sound waves to launch from a solution very small droplets containing even smaller protein crystals through the air and to a mounting mesh. (Sunnyvale, CA) are incorporating a technique called acoustic drop ejection (ADE) into studies at NSLS and the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory. To address this technological gap, scientists from Brookhaven and Labcyte Inc. With a new class of brighter x-rays produced at next-generation light sources like Brookhaven's soon-to-be National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II), scientists will be able to study crystals measuring only a few micrometers along an edge (like those from membrane proteins) - an ability that's not possible with conventional macromolecular crystallography.īut there's a problem: As the crystal size is reduced, the diffraction signal weakens due to noise from the surrounding solvent. ![]() "Crystallographers working at Brookhaven's National Synchrotron Light Source have determined the structures of numerous molecules, including those from organisms responsible for the common cold, Lyme disease, and AIDS, in addition to investigating how plants respond to environmental changes." "X-ray crystallography has transformed our understanding of biological processes," said Photon Sciences Directorate biophysicist Marc Allaire. Knowing the molecule's structure provides information about its function, which may lead to important clues about how to create effective drugs to prevent or treat a disease. These x-rays then hit a detector, and are analyzed with a computer program to determine the atomic-level image. This is done by making a crystal comprised of many copies of the particular molecule and then bombarding it with beams of high-intensity x-rays that diffract, or bend, as they interact with the electrons in the atoms of the molecule. Like a high-speed x-ray camera, a technique called macromolecular crystallography provides researchers with 3-D "pictures" of the arrangement of atoms in molecules ranging from enzymes to nucleic acids. The research group's work on acoustic drop ejection could improve macromolecular crystallography studies at the new facility.īrookhaven researchers are using high-frequency sound waves in conjunction with extremely bright x-rays to get a look at the atomic structures of the complex biological molecules that make our bodies work. Brookhaven scientists and lead authors, from left, Marc Allaire, Allen Orville, and Alexei Soares in the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) ring building, now under construction at Brookhaven Lab.
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