NCI X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) initiative

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We elucidated the physical basis for the lattice phase transition triggered by ligand and discovered a fundamental phenomenon called molecular synchronization in crystal lattices. This project is fundamental to the visualization of "molecular movies." The main technology and tool for this project is the X-ray free electron laser (XFEL), which is located in Meno Park, Ca. This part of the work has been published in four manuscripts, including a paper in Nat. Comm. within this FY. It is noteworthy to mention that my lab has established the research program using XFEL to study RNA structural dynamics, from sample prep, micron/nanocrystal characterization, data collection, data analysis in situ and post-data-acquistiion, computing, and interpretation. Thus we are in the position to take full advantage of this new technology, XFEL, to explore the structural dynamics and conformational space of RNA. Unfortunately, the travel ban due to the ongoing pandemic has prevented us from traveling to the site to perform experiments, preventing us from collecting data for the past 16 months and making any further progress challenging. As a result, I have made a conscientious and strategic change in our program. Instead of relying on the XFEL, the resource that we have no control over and is highly susceptible to interruption, given the current circumstance of non-travel, we were forced to adopt different technologies to carry out and fulfill our research goal of exploring RNA structural dynamics and conformational space.