Acquisition of an X-ray Generator/Detector System to Support NIH Research

 描述(由申请者提供)：佐治亚大学有一个强大且不断增长的结构生物学社区，聘用了两名新教师，并资助了具有挑战性的提案。为了满足日益增长的结构需求，解决UGA研究的一个主要瓶颈(缺乏内部X射线系统)，并提高UGA结构生物学的整体生产率，我们提议购买一套现代X射线数据收集系统，包括：1)微焦点X射线发生器；2)测角仪；3)光子计数探测器；4)冷冻冷却系统，以取代我们已停机三年多的老化X射线系统。该系统将自2012年以来首次允许内部筛查和数据收集。它将促进对较小晶体和具有较大单位晶胞的晶体的数据收集，并将提供一种具有成本效益的方法来维护这一重要资源，这一资源由十多名富有成效的研究人员共享。新仪器的能力和性能将被用来处理各种重要的生物医学研究课题。这些包括蛋白质化学、结构生物学、糖蛋白和糖生物学的方法开发、翻译后修饰、激酶调节、转录、视网膜渗透性、钙信号、病毒生物学、铁-硫簇组装、膜-蛋白质相互作用、内毒素-受体相互作用、发育生物学等方面的一般问题。因此，该仪器将对美国国立卫生研究院在癌症、糖尿病、败血症、贫血、共济失调、细菌和病毒感染等领域支持的UGA生物医学研究项目产生直接和持久的影响。具体的好处包括：提高生产率：X射线系统将使我们能够在将晶体发送到同步加速器之前快速筛选它们，从而腾出宝贵的光束时间，我们现在用于筛选。与我们目前的系统相比，新的X射线衍射系统将允许我们筛选较小的晶体和具有较大晶胞的晶体。内部：数据收集：质量更高的数据集将比以前更快地从更小的晶体中收集。该系统还将为低优先级项目提供数据，并在APS出现故障时提供数据。提高竞争力：通过解决UGA目前的结构性生物学瓶颈，X光系统将为UGA带来更多的用户、更多的数据、更多的结果，并增强UGA在吸引最好的学生、教师和资金方面的竞争力。节省成本。更节能的系统将大大降低基础设施和维护成本。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The University of Georgia has a strong and growing structural biology community with two new faculty hired and challenging proposals funded. To meet increasing demand for structures, address a major bottleneck to UGA research (the lack of an in-house X-ray system) and to increase the overall productivity of UGA structural biology we propose to purchase a modern X-ray data collection system consisting of: 1) a microfocus X-ray generator; 2) goniometer; 3) photon counting detector; 4) cryo-cooling system to replace our aging X-ray system which has been down for over three years. The system will allow in-house screening and data collection for the first time since 2012. It will facilitate data collection fro smaller crystals and those with large unit cells, and will provide a cost effective approach to maintaining this vital resource that is shared among more than a dozen productive researchers. The capabilities and performance of the new instrumentation will be exploited to tackle a diverse collection of important biomedical research topics. These include general issues in protein chemistry, methods development for structural biology, glycoproteins and glycobiology, post-translational modification, kinase regulation, transcription, retinal permeability, calcium signalig, virus biology, iron-sulfur cluster assembly, membrane-protein interactions, endotoxin-receptor interactions, developmental biology, and others Thus, the instrument will have an immediate and lasting impact on UGA biomedical research programs supported by NIH in areas such as cancer, diabetes, sepsis, anemias, ataxias, bacterial and viral infections and many others. Specific benefits include: Increased productivity: The X-ray system will enable us to quickly screen crystals before sending them to the synchrotron freeing up valuable beam time that we now use for screening. Compared to our current system, new X-ray diffraction system will allow us to screen smaller crystals and crystals having larger unit cells. In- house: data collection: Datasets of improved quality will be collected much more rapidly and from smaller crystals than were previously possible. The system will also provide data for low priority projects and during times when the APS is down. Increased competitiveness: by addressing the current structural biology bottleneck at UGA the X-ray system will result in more users, more data, more results and increased competitiveness for UGA in attracting the best students, faculty and funding. Cost savings. Infrastructure and maintenance costs will be considerably lower with the more energy efficient system.