DECTRIS AppLab opens

The DECTRIS application and training laboratory officially opened today after commissioning of the first instrument. This is a milestone in DECTRIS history and manifests our commitment towards delivering the best performing detectors for our customers, especially the growing number of laboratory users. If you are interested in testing our detectors with your crystals, please contact us to schedule a visit.

Our diffractometer. Data collection with an EIGER R 1M in the DECTRIS application laboratory.

DECTRIS operates a Rigaku Oxford Diffraction XtalLAB MicroMax-003 single-crystal X-ray diffractometer with a microfocus sealed tube for standard macromolecular crystallography and small-molecule crystallography. Thanks to a partial-chi goniometer, we can collect high-multiplicity data for experimental phasing based on the anomalous signal of sulfur inherent in most proteins. The two-theta angle of up to 90° will allow us to collect small-molecule data at IUCr resolution.
We have demonstrated the performance of the instrument by quickly solving the structure of lysozyme, a common test protein, by single-wavelength anomalous dispersion. One hour of data acquisition was sufficient to obtain enough anomalous data to determine phases and autotrace the Cα backbone.

Experimental map. Strong difference density for disulfides and clear maps obtained from S-SAD phasing of lysozyme with one hour of diffraction data.

In our application laboratory we will characterize our detectors in low-flux conditions and review data collection methods. We will strive to optimize data quality and provide the basis for the faster determination of higher-quality structures. The data acquisition software supports data collection with PILATUS3 R 100K, 200K and 300K and EIGER R 1M and 4M detectors.