Upgrade to X-Ray Diffraction Facility

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This award provides partial support for purchase of a cryo-cooling device to be installed in a shared facility used for x-ray protein crystallography. Crystallographic studies now play a central role in biology as the sequencing of large stretches of DNA reveals more and more genes whose role in the cell are poorly understood. Cryo-cooling minimizes radiation damage to protein crystals during data collection, and is an essential feature of modern x-ray crystallography workstations. At least 90% of the current crystallography projects on campus require cryo-cooling, including structural studies of a thermostable glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, other NAD binding enzymes, human bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein, EF-hand calcium binding proteins, anti-DNA antibodies, and enzymes in the alginate biosynthetic pathway. Although one such device is already available to the PIs, usage of the X-ray facility is expected to increase significantly as a result of the recent establishment of a Structural Biology Core facility for which they are responsible.