Vanderbilt crystallographers have excellent access to macromolecular beamlines at the third generation synchrotron source at Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago. The beamlines at LS-CAT are routinely available to Vanderbilt researchers for on-site and remote data collection.

LS-CAT beamlines at APS

The Life Sciences Collaborative Access Team, LS-CAT, provides a significant amount of beamtime throughout the year. Look at the LS-CAT website to familiarize yourself with this very important resource. Beamtime from Vanderbilt is coordinated by Joel Harp. To request beamtime for any of the excellent lines at LS-CAT, first check availability of beamtime slots:

Listing of available beamtime at LS-CAT

Then, contact Joel by email at joel.harp at vanderbilt.edu.

Remember the ESAF

An Experimental Safety Assessment Form, ESAF, should be completed at least seven days before scheduled beamtime.

There should be only one ESAF submitted for each beamtime slot.

This means that if more than one group is sharing a slot, then all of the groups must collaborate on submission of the ESAF. The beamline staff request this in order to facilitate the data collection. For a table explaining why, click WHY?

NOTICE:
The synchrotron staff requests that all communication with beamline concerning times and schedules include a PI (to prevent conflicts). AND, if users are having technical difficulties and request that the staff help, that they not play with the controls until the staff member lets them know they are finished with the repair (even if it seems nothing is happening). Please share this information.