BL13 XALOC started user operation
The beamline will boost biotechnological and medical advances.
XALOC, the beamline dedicated to macromolecular crystallography at Alba, started user operation on 18th July 2012. The first two scientific groups hosted at the beamline successfully performed a variety of experiments oriented to understand some biological processes at a molecular level. To this aim, several wavelength-dependent and independent experimental techniques were employed, fully exploiting the beamline capabilities.
The first group to use the beamline belongs to the Institut de Biologia Molecular de Barcelona (IBMB-CSIC) and the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB-Barcelona), Barcelona. About eight researchers spent three days studying the structural basis of several importat biological processes in bacteria and humans, involving DNA-protein and DNA-drug interactions, DNA translocation and replication and viral DNA encapsidation.
Second group, from the Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, CNB-CSIC, Madrid, investigated during two days some cell surface receptors involved in inmune reactions, enveloped virus glycoproteins implicated in viral infection of host cells, virus neutralizing antibodies, as well as adenovirus-bacteriophage binding fibres.These studies may lead to biotechnological and medical advances in gene theraphy, antibody resistance and vaccine development.
XALOC is now open to routine user operation to help research on the structural basis of the machinery of life using X-ray crystallography.
View of the XALOC end station, showing the Pilatus detector, the diffractometer (grey/white) and the sample changer (yellow)
