Integrated Structural Biology

Contact

Name: Dmitry Temiakov, PhD,
Position: Director
Contact Number(s):

Contact

Name: Erik Debler, PhD
Position: Co-Director
Contact Number(s):

Contact

Name: Ashok Nayak, PhD
Position: Cryo-EM Facility Manager
Contact Number(s):

Contact

Name: Hideharu Hashimoto, PhD
Position: X-Ray Crystallography Facility Manager
Contact Number(s):

Mission, Goals & Capabilities

This facility supports SKCCC research programs with cutting-edge technologies and services in structural biology, including cryo-electron microscopy, x-ray crystallography, characterization of biological macromolecules, and analysis of their interactions.

Major Equipment

Cryo-Electron Microscopy

Reserve equipment through iLab

  • ThermoScientific 200kV Glacios transmission electron microscope equipped with a Falcon 4 direct electron detector
  • Vitrobot 5 for cryo-EM sample preparation
  • PELCO easiGlow™ Glow Discharge system
  • Grid clipping and loading stations

The Jefferson cryo-Electron Microscopy Core (JEMiCo) provides access to a state-of-the-art Glacios 200 kV transmission cryo-Electron Microscope equipped with Falcon 4 direct electron detector. The Glacios uses the same Autoloader for automated and contamination-free loading of cassettes commonly found on the Titan Krios 300 kV. Samples screened on a Glacios can be rapidly transferred to a Krios for ultimate high-resolution data acquisition. Besides, configured with the new Falcon 4, the Glacios is also a powerful microscope for rapid high-resolution Single-Particle Analysis (SPA) data acquisition, capable of achieving resolution beyond 3.5 Å resolution.

  • Users training in vitrification of biological specimens
  • User training and support in screening cryo-grids and cryo-EM data collection
  • Rapid collection of movies in electron-event representation (EER) format (>150 movies/hour)
  • Assisted vitrification and grid clipping of biological specimens for inexperienced users
  • Assisted data collection and analysis for inexperienced users

X-ray Crystallography

Reserve equipment through iLab

  • Rigaku MicroMax-007HF microfocus rotating anode x-ray generator dual equipped for data collection from macromolecular crystals and Small Angle X-Ray Scattering (SAXS). The left port of this instrument is equipped with high focusing mirrors and an ultrafast PILATUS 200K Hybrid Pixel Array Detector and a X-stream 2000 cryogenic system, while the right port hosts a BioSAXS-2000 2D Kratky SAXS system
  • Formulatrix NT8 robot crystallization robot for high-throughput crystallization screening
  • Microscope equipped with digital camera for crystal viewing and image capture

Molecular Characterization

Reserve equipment through iLab

  • Biacore 3000 Surface plasmon resonance
  • Low volume Nano-Isothermal Titration Calorimeter (Nano-ITC)
  • Beckman Coulter XL-1 Analytical Ultracentrifuge (AUC)
  • Jasco J-810 circular dichroism spectropolarimeter (CD)

Services

User training and support in instrumentation, sample preparation, data collection, determining three-dimensional atomic structures, macromolecular structure-function studies, and biophysical characterization.