W0379

The X6A facility at the National Synchrotron Light Source is a dedicated macromolecular crystallography beam line funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. The facility serves expert and non-expert crystallographers from protein purification to atomic coordinates. The X6A facility consists of an experimental station and an associated laboratory for protein purification and crystallization. The X6A optics was designed to facilitate multiwavelength diffraction data acquisition. The beam line optics includes a pair of horizontal/vertical knife-edge slits, an NSLS design Si(111) channel-cut monochromator and an Oxford Danfysik toroidal focusing mirror. The end station consists of a CrystalLogic Kappa diffractometer, an ADSC 210 CCD detector and an Oxford Cryosystem series 700 nitrogen jet. Standard crystallographic packages are available to assist the users for data analysis. An automated sample changer will soon be added to the end station. The associated laboratory is fully equipped for all aspects of protein purification, including an AKTA explorer purification system, and protein crystallization. The beam line is currently open for users (http://protein.nsls.bnl.gov). Through the X6A effort, we want to help scientists who would like to use macromolecular crystallography and structural biology to address important biological question.