52
SYNCHROTRON
HIGHLIGHTS
2013
One of SOLEIL’s objectives in biology and health is to continue joint development
projects between the beamlines, to offer increasingly integrated approaches and
covering issues relevant to users’ needs.
A first “molecular” approach, integrates high-resolution macromolecular
crystallography data with data obtained at lower resolution using SAXS, SRCD
and MS on dynamic systems. The increasing number of publications with data
acquired on several beamlines shows the success of this approach (for example
Siponen et al., Bourgeois et al., Gobert et al.).
A second “organism-orientated” approach links all multimodal imaging available
at SOLEIL from chemical imaging with a resolution of a few microns in the infrared
(André et al.) to X-ray elemental imaging on a nanoscale, via resolutions of about
100 nm in the far UV. This “correlative imaging” approach is strongly supported by
internal developments guaranteeing the localization of samples from one microscope
to the next and the combination and analysis of varying multi-scale data.
Following on from PROXIMA 1, automatic sample changing equipment has
now come into operation on PROXIMA 2 for crystal samples, and on the DISCO
and SWING beamlines for biomolecular solutions. These systems make
experimentation much more convenient in the case where significant sample to
sample variation is observed. In addition the provision of automatic sample changers
couple with the increased reliability of sources and beamlines, each one now having
a dedicated engineer, has led to a rise in the number of industrial projects carried
out on the biology beamlines.
Unique developments at SOLEIL now make it possible to analyze interactions
between a polyproline-rich protein and its ligand, leading to molecular decryption
of the sensation of astringency (Canon et al.).
Thanks to the coupling between a mass spectrometer and SOLEIL ultraviolet
radiation, it was also possible to characterize the transmembrane fragments
of membrane proteins in their extraction detergent (Bagag et al.).
We hope to continue in our advances with you in the coming years.
Matthieu Réfrégiers
Head of the ”Biology and Health Sciences” Scientific Section
BIOLOGY AND HEALTH SCIENCES
