X-Ray Diffraction Laboratory

The X-Ray Diffraction Laboratory is currently the most advanced in-house academic facility of its kind in North Carolina and includes 2 complete X-ray generator-and-detector systems with associated low-temperature devices (Oxford CryoJet). The newest (July, 2003) system consists of a Rigaku/MSC MicroMax-007 Microfocus rotating anode generator, Saturn-92 Digital CCD Camera system, and Confocal Blue Max-Flux optical system. The original (November, 2001) system consists of an RU-H3R generator with Osmic Confocal Blue optics and an R-AXIS IV imaging plate system, which was upgraded in July, 2003, with an inverse phi axis and color video system. The protein crystallization facilities are conveniently located adjacent to the X-Ray Diffraction Laboratory; these include a new (2003) 100 ft² cold room dedicated to crystallization, a Belle Technology Clear View Glove Box for preparing and cryo-cooling crystals in the absence of oxygen, and a new Dynamic Light Scattering instrument (Malvern Instruments ZEN1600) for characterization of proteins in solution.

A 2004 grant from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center funded the purchase of a Tecan Freedom Evo 200 robotics workstation for Protein Crystallization and Proteomics applications, in addition to a 4DX Systems AB single-crystal microspectrophotometer and a Tecan Safire² monochromator-based microplate reader.