Hi,

Yes indeed, as Matt was kind enough to point out, we do have the HC1 installed at station I911-3 of the MAX-II ring and you are welcome to make a rapid access application. One advantage of MAX-lab might be that our wiggler beam is more merciful to the crystals at room temperature than the undulator beams at the ESRF! There are a few free days left in our spring schedule:

http://cassiopeia.maxlab.lu.se/index/organiser-app

Good luck
Derek
___________________________________________________________________
Derek Logan                                    tel: +46 46 222 1443
Associate Professor                            fax: +46 46 222 4692
Dept. of Biochemistry and Structural Biology   mob: +46 76 8585 707
Centre for Molecular Protein Science           www.cmps.lu.se
Lund University, Box 124, 221 00 Lund, Sweden  www.saromics.com




On May 2, 2011, at 8:11, Matthew BOWLER wrote:

> Dear Israel,
>     as Martin pointed out we have a device here at the ESRF/EMBL, the 
> HC1b,  that produces a stream of air with a precisely controlled RH at 
> the sample position that we have used with some success to monitor the 
> effects dehydration has on diffraction quality.  The same device is also 
> available at Diamond, Max-Lab and, I believe, BESSY. The example you 
> describe is a classic example of the sort of system that will usually 
> benefit from controlled dehydration.  Depending on the size and 
> concentration of the LMW PEG you are using you have probably reduced the 
> "RH" surrounding your crystal by ~10%.  The best thing to do now is 
> repeat these experiments using the HC1b to really define the changes in 
> the lattice of your crystals and find the optimum dehydration conditions 
> for your crystals.  At the ESRF the device can be requested for any 
> experimental session (just click the check box on the A form) and I 
> presume that this will be similar at the other synchrotrons.
> 
> As well as the reference describing the device we have recently 
> published a further description of typical experimental conditions and 
> some successful applications:
> 
> http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsb.2011.03.002
> 
> And the ESRF webpage is here:
> 
> http://www.esrf.fr/UsersAndScience/Experiments/MX/About_our_beamlines/ID14-2/HC1b
> 
> Good luck!  Matt
> 
> 
> On 01/05/2011 19:32, Israel Sanchez wrote:
>> Hi folks,
>> 
>> 
>> I am currently impressed by the efficiency of dehydration treatments 
>> over the diffraction capacity of our crystals in one particular 
>> condition. Without any treatment the crystals seldom diffract to 
>> 20-30A but in our last synchrotron trip the very same crystals, after 
>> been incubated with increasing concentration of low molecular weight 
>> PEGs diffracted to 6A.
>> 
>> I was wondering if anyone has studied these effects in a systematic 
>> way. Does anyone on the ccp4bb knows  references or has any 
>> experience/pseudo-religious believes that do not care to share with 
>> the community about this particular topic?
>> 
>> 
>> Thank you very much in advance!!!!
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Israel Sanchez Fernandez PhD
>> Ramakrishnan-lab
>> MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology,
>> Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 0QH, UK
>> 
>> 
> 
> -- 
> Matthew Bowler
> Structural Biology Group
> European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
> B.P. 220, 6 rue Jules Horowitz
> F-38043 GRENOBLE CEDEX
> FRANCE
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> Tel: +33 (0) 4.76.88.29.28
> Fax: +33 (0) 4.76.88.29.04
> 
> http://go.esrf.eu/MX
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