EXPLORE ESRF BEAMLINES - BM29 Beamline - High throughput BioSAXS - Mark Tully

BM29 Beamline - High throughput BioSAXS

Mark Tully^a, Hayden Fisher^a, Anton Popov^b and Petra Pernot^a
a ESRF-The European Synchrotron, 71 avenue des Martyrs, Grenoble, France
^b EMBL, 71 avenue des Martyrs, Grenoble, France.

A world class SAXS beamline, dedicated to bio-solutions. BM29, BioSAXS station opened to users in 2008. In recent years a combination of advances in sample handling, computer modelling and synchrotron sources have made BioSAXS more and more attractive.

After completion of the ESRF-Extremely Brilliant Source (EBS) BM29 moved to a new source, a 2-pole wiggler, to replace the bending magnet. This has provided a smaller, more intense X-ray beam at the sample position. A new detector has been installed as well as replacing our ground-breaking sample-changer unit, developed at the BM29 12 years ago, with the newest version. These upgrades generate high quality, low noise data at lower concentrations of sample (0.1mg/ml) necessary.

The software on BM29 was also extensively upgraded over the shutdown. Our new data collection software, BSXCuBE3 (BioSAXS Customized Beamline Environment) was designed with a “User first” principal, clean, unobtrusive and intuitive to new users but powerful for more expert users and the Local contacts. Simple colours and an ergonomic stepwise progression with an emphasis on limiting the button clicks required to start a data collection, to add to the simplicity of use. A new data analysis suite also was created, the opensource FreeSAS, developed at the ESRF and is currently being migrated to EWOKS with new modules encompassing Alfafold and molecular dynamics to aid with protein structure determination with SAXS. All data collection parameters and results are logged and stored in a modified ISPyB database and the ESRF DataPortal.

BM29 experiments are highly automated, we offer two main modes of operation: BioSAXS with a robotic liquid handling sample changer (SC) and BioSAXS with online size-exclusion chromatography (SEC). We are also now starting to offer a third sample environment, in conjunction with EMBL Grenoble and EMBL Hamburg, a new sample exposure unit (SEU2B). was developed that allows the introduction of in-vacuum microfluidics. An off-the-shelf suite of devices is being developed for users, to give a greater, more diverse experimental set-up. A project that would not be possible without the smaller intense beam.

REPLAY Webinar BM29