Call for proposals in neutron protein crystallography at the ILL

You are invited to apply for beam time for the neutron Laue
diffractometer, LADI-III, at the Institut Laue Langevin, Grenoble, France.
The deadline for proposal submission is
 Tuesday, 6 March 2007, midnight (Central European time)

The new LADI-III neutron diffractometer at the ILL
LADI-III is dedicated to neutron protein crystallography at
high-resolution (1.5Å– 2.5Å) and is used to study key hydrogen atoms and
water structure in protein single crystal structures. Major improvements
in the design have been made compared to the original LADI instrument with
the image plates now located on and read from the interior, rather than
the exterior of the drum. The transferal of the image plates and readout
system to the interior provides an increase in neutron detection by a
factor of three. Furthermore the radius of the drum has been increased
which reduces both the number of spatially overlapped reflections and the
background on the detector. Current projects aim to address specific
questions such as enzymatic mechanism, ligand-binding interactions,
solvent effects, structure dynamics and their implications. Through
protocols developed for the successful cryo-cooling of large protein
crystals data can be collected at cryo-temperatures as well as room
temperature.

Deuterium labeling (http://www.ill.fr/YellowBook/deuteration/index.htm)
A joint ILL/EMBL Deuteration laboratory has been established as part of
the Partnership for Structural Biology [PSB]. Its purpose is to develop
tools and expertise needed to produce deuterated materials for neutron
scattering experiments as well as improved systems and technologies for
the production and analysis of deuterium-labeled biological
macromolecules. Thanks to the ILL/EMBL deuteration laboratory, the
production in E. Coli and purification of fully deuterated proteins has
now become routine so that it is possible to use much smaller crystal
volumes (~0.1 mm3) and/or address much larger unit-cell projects (>150Å).

For further information about LADI-III or the deuteration laboratory,
please contact Matthew Blakeley ([log in to unmask]) or Michael Haertlein
([log in to unmask]) respectively.
Proposal submission is only possible electronically. Electronic Proposal
Submission (EPS) is possible via our Visitors Club
(http://club.ill.fr/cv/), once you have logged in with your personal
username and password. The web system will be operational from 1 February
2007.
Please allow sufficient time for any unforeseen computing hitches. You
will receive full support from the Visitors Club team. If you have any
difficulties at all, please contact our web-support ([log in to unmask]).
Scheduling period
Those proposals accepted at the next round will be scheduled during the
last two cycles in 2007 (148 & 149).
Reactor Cycles for 2007
Cycle n° 146 (071)	FromTo 	20/02/200711/04/2007
Cycle n° 147 (072)	FromTo	24/04/200713/06/2007
Cycle n° 148 (073)	FromTo	28/08/200717/10/2007
Cycle n° 149 (074) 	FromTo	30/10/200719/12/2007

*Please note that these dates might change. We therefore encourage you to
consult the ILL website, where possible changes will be indicated.

*Non-member country use of the ILL beam time From now on, scientists from
universities and laboratories of a non-member country can apply for ILL
beam time without being obliged to establish collaboration with colleagues
from member countries. However, the ILL management will restrict the
allocated time to non-member country proposals to 10% of the total
available beam time.