The Industrial Macromolecular Crystallographic Association Collaborative
Access Team (IMCA-CAT) has the following experimental equipment available
for users:
Two Mar USA, Inc. 165mm-diameter charge-coupled-device
detector systems, including in each case:
- the CCD unit itself;
- a Mar Research "Marbase", containing
- a single-axis phi drive on which the sample mounts;
- a motor drive for the sample-to-detector distance;
- control electronics for the Marbase and the detector;
- a 400-600 MHz Pentium II or III computer running RedHatLinux, responsible
for data acquisition;
A pair of simple ion chambers with accompanying high-voltage power
supplies, Keithley electrometers, voltage-to-frequency converters, and scalers.
These are used for monitoring the direct beam intensity and for energy calibration
using metal foils. They are normally mounted just downstream of the beryllium
exit window in 17-ID or 17-BM,
upstream of the Mar shutter and collimator.
A fluorescence detector and accompanying electronics. This can be
used as an alternate device for energy calibrations, but its primary role
is the experimental determination of the fluorescence spectrum from samples,
especially in multiwavelength anomalous diffraction (MAD) experiments.
Seven fast, dual-processor Pentium II or III computers for processing
diffraction data. Four of these machines are on the experimental floor,
one in the IMCA-CAT electronics laboratory, and the other two in the IMCA-CAT
user offices (rooms 8 and 9).
These machines are capable of running
HKL2000,
a GUI version of W. Minor and Z. Otwinowski's DENZO, SCALEPACK, and XDISPLAYF packages.
They are also capable of running the non-GUI version of A. Howard's X-GEN package.
Each Pentium is running Red Hat Linux, has 256-1024 megabytes of memory, and
at least 50 gigabytes of disk space.
Two Silicon Graphics R12000 Octane computers for processing diffraction
data and providing file-serving facilities. One of these systems is at
the insertion-device beamline; the other is in the Lab and Office Module, room 6.
five Silicon Graphics R10000 O2 computers for processing diffraction
data. These machines are in various stages of disrepair and are not to
be used for data processing. One is healthy and is providing beamline
control functionalities on 17-BM; two of the others are healthy and
are in LOM offices 6 and 9.
The two SGI systems on the experimental floor are the most
convenient places to modify the beamline characteristics
through software and to perform energy calibrations and fluorescence experiments.
a 100BaseT Ethernet connecting the data processing computers and
the data acquisition computers.
NFS runs on this network, so data transfers are generally simple.
The network connects smoothly to the APS's link to the outside world,
so it is feasible to transfer data in and
out of the site and use the World Wide Web from the facilities.
several printers, both black-and-white laser and color laser,
for statistical summaries, outputs from websites, and the like.
several Macintosh and Windows computers for miscellaneous purposes,
both for the staff and for users;
Three functional tape drives, as follows:
- One digital audio tape (4mm) drive, mounted on the Linux machine
in the electronics laboratory. This is a DAT-3 drive, so it will hold about
for gigabytes.
- A digital linear tape (DLT) drives on the SGI machine in room 9.
This is a DLT7000 and has a 35 gigabyte (uncompresed) capacity.
- An AIT drive, currently unimplemented.
Four compact disk writers, one on a data processing machine at 17-ID,
one on the system in the electronics lab, and the others in LOM Rooms 8 and 9.
One can write 650 megabyte CD-Rs with these systems.
Several goniometer heads. Most are Huber XYZ heads. You may also bring
your own, but ours are known to fit properly on the phi drive of the goniostat.
The Mar gonioistat has a substantial degree of flexibility in the
height of the sample relative to the goniometer head.
If you plan to mount your crystals in loops onsite (see below),
we can offer you Hampton loops of several different heights
and diameters.
One or two vertical spacers that can help get your crystal into the
beam if you've mounted it too low to fit (see above).
A chemistry laboratory with storage facilities and workspaces adequate
for crystallization, investigation of cryoprotectants, and crystal manipulation.
Some of the equipment and supplies in this chemistry lab are listed elsewhere
in this document. Each company has about 2.5 m3
of storage space in the laboratory, most of it under lock and key. Academic
users will be provided small amounts of storage space and ample work space.
A 4-degree chill room. This room is large enough to grow crystals
and manipulate them. Each company has another cubic meter or so of lockable
storage, and academic users have a small amount of storage in the chill
room.
four microscopes:
- An Olympus SZH10 in the IMCA-CAT chemistry laboratory; this is the
highest-power and highest-quality microscope on site.
- An Olympus SZ60 at the 17-ID beamline. This is not quite as good, but adequate
for mounting and cryoprotecting crystals.
- A similar Olympus on 17-BM.
- A similar Olympus opoposite the SZH10 in the chemistry laboratory.
- An Olympus SZ in the chill room. This microscope was donated by Monsanto;
be kind to it.
- A Zeiss Stemi 2000. This may be in the chemistry laboratory or the
electronics laboratory next door. It has optics that are not ideally suited
to crystal characterization, but we are hoping to upgrade them at some
point; it works well for other purposes.
An 0.1mg-accuracy analytical balance.
A microcentrifuge.
A pH meter.
A standard set of Hampton crystal-mounting tools.
Two Craftsman toolkits full of English and metric tools.
Spare electronics modules and electrometers.
People-oriented supplies, including two food refrigerators,
a Sparkletts system, a coffee maker, and a microwave oven.
Designed and maintained by the IMCA-CAT
Webmaster.
We welcome your questions and comments.
Send e-mail to: IMCA-CATwebmaster@anl.gov