We have applied some changes to ARIA and are monitoring stability, but you can continue to work as normal. We appreciate your understanding.
View All X-Ray Techniques at Instruct
Beamlines XALOC and XAIRA are dedicated to macromolecular crystallography (MX) to provide the 3D structures of proteins, oligonucleotides and protein-protein, protein-DNA or protein-ligand complexes.
The two MX beamlines, XAIRA and XALOC, share resources to tailor the project needs through a joint proposal submission system. A new dewar shipment system and a new data portal to provide a single access point, automated processing and a catalog identification for all data acquired following FAIR data principles are being implemented to improve user experience.
XAIRA is dedicated to micro-macromolecular crystallography and is starting user operation in fall 2024.
The beamline offers optimal conditions to solve macromolecular structures from micron-sized and poorlydiffracting crystals. Micron-sized crystals are optimally illuminated by the focused 3Å~1 μmÇ beam, which can be enlarged and tailored to match crystal dimensions by either defocusing the optics or moving the sample along the beam axis. High-precision rotation experiments, including helical collection strategies, are enabled by a custom-made sub-100nm run-out goniometer. Fixed-target SSX experiments and timeresolved MX studies are possible due to the high flux (over 1013 ph/s at 12 keV) and the EIGER2 X 9M HE fast detector. Fast X-ray-based raster scans and AI algorithms are being developed to locate the micronsized crystals. Nevertheless, the unique feature of XAIRA aims to be the exceptionally low background in diffraction images, achieved by enclosing the entire end-station in a recirculated He atmosphere, including the sample environment, diffractometer, cryostream and detector, while remaining compatible with automated sample mounting, standard cryocrystallography sample formats and operation in air. This feature is also essential for optimal elemental analysis as photon energies as low as 3.5 keV can be delivered, encompassing all the 3d row metal absorption edges.
XALOC is a mature, high performing beamline which has recently reached the milestone of the first thousand PDB entries solved, with a deposition rate of about 150 structures per year. The beamline offers a high throughput yield with new instrumentation, notably a new PILATUS3 6M detector and a new ISARA2 automated sample mounting with a capacity of 496 samples. Remote operation is offered since 2018, and currently is used in 90% of the beamtime, while autonomous data collection (without human intervention) has been implemented in 2024.
In addition to classical rotation crystallography methods, including re-orientation of the crystal by a minikappa goniometer system, XALOC allows plate screening tests, jet-based serial crystallography experiments (SSX) and dynamic (time-resolved) MX studies by laser photo-activation.
