BioCAT held its fourth intensive HOW-TO course in BioSAXS from 11/5/18-11/7/18. The 11 participants received a day and a half of lectures and hands-on software tutorials on the basics of BioSAXS data collection and processing from expert practitioners in the field. This was followed by data collection on the BioCAT beamline and data analysis help. Many students brought research samples for the data collection portion of the workshop.

Participants and instructors at the Everything BioSAXS 4 Workshop.

BioCAT held its fourth annual BioSAXS training course from 11/5/18-11/7/18. There were 11 participants and 6 instructors. Day one started off with breakfast, followed by an excellent overview of the basic physics of SAXS and what kind of information you can obtain from the technique by Dr. Xiaobing Zuo (12ID, APS). This was followed by two talks from Dr. Lokesh Gakhar (Iowa State) going over the extremely important and sometimes overlooked steps of how to actually plan and perform SAXS experiments. He covered everything from planning what data you want to collect to sample preparation for the experiment, to recommended notes you should take while at the beamline. Following that Dr. Srinivas Chakravarthy (BioCAT …

Dr. Jesse Hopkins of BioCAT was a co-organizer of the BioSAS Advanced Analysis Workshop workshop at the XVII International Small Angle Scattering Conference (SAS2018). The workshop focused on advanced techniques for analyzing biological scattering data from three different software packages: BioXTAS RAW, US-SOMO, and SASSIE-web. Twenty three participants from around the world joined six expert instructors for the one-day workshop on October 6th 2018.

Participants and instructors at the SAS2018 BioSAS Advanced Analysis Workshop.

Solution small-angle x-ray and neutron scattering methods are having an increasing impact in structural biology largely due to advanced hardware, data analysis and modeling. The objective of this workshop was to give users hands-on practical experience with a variety of software tools that provide powerful capabilities for processing, analyzing and modeling BioSAS experimental data. This workshop introduced participants to advanced analysis techniques including deconvolving SEC-SAS data sets and utilizing molecular dynamics in combination with SAS curve fitting. The software used was the BioXTAS RAW, SASSIE-web and US-SOMO software suites. The instructors were Emre Brookes (UTHSCSA), Joseph Curtis (NIST), Jesse Hopkins (BioCAT, APS), Richard Gillilan (MacCHESS), Susan Krueger (NIST), Mattia Rocco (HSanMartino, Italy) and other available staff. Participants were given a mixture …

The MuscleX workshop was a great success with 63 registered attendees!

A University of Chicago graduate student in Biophysical Sciences has received the 2018 Rosalind Franklin Investigator Award from the Advanced Photon Source (APS) Users Organization at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory.

Joshua Riback, who is in his fifth year of graduate studies, was recognized for his work using small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) techniques at the APS to study biophysical interactions.

Riback’s research focuses on the link between the biophysical properties of macromolecules and the principles of biological phenomena, such as subcellular localization and compartmentalization, evolution and fitness. By focusing on how proteins respond when temperature increases, Riback is working toward understanding the breadth of mechanisms that occur in the temperature-dependence and specificity of protein assembly.

“I was quite amazed at the work being done at the synchrotron, especially how many different techniques by many different fields seem to be taking part at the same time.” — Joshua Riback, University of Chicago graduate student and APS user

Ultimately, the goal is to extrapolate these mechanisms to other biological signals or stresses, so as to develop our understanding of the physical basis and cellular benefits of assembly.

Riback first worked on a light source during his …

BioCAT’s director Professor Tomas Irving discusses the heart project he is working on.