Drug design from a three-dimensional protein structure at atomic level.
AR-NE3A
Summary
In recent years, advances in high-throughput techniques for macromolecular crystallography have highlighted the importance pf structure-based drug design (SBDD), and demand for synchrotron use by pharmaceutical researchers has increased. In order to meet this demand, we have constructed a new high-throughput macromolecular crystallography beamline AR-NE3A, dedicated to SBDD, funded in partnership with Astellas Pharma Inc.
At AR-NE3A, the light source results from an in-vacuum undulator located in the Photon Factory Advanced Ring (PF-AR), with a beam energy of 6.5GeV ring, which provides a high flux X-ray beam. The optics consists of three main components, i.e. a collimating mirror, a double crystal monochromator combined with a liquid nitrogen cooling system, and a toroidal double-focusing mirror, respectively. As a consequence of these light source and optics settings, we could obtain a photon flux at the sample position up to three times higher when compared with the other existing high-throughput beamlines at the Photon Factory, AR-NW12A and BL-5A. In the experimental hutch, a high precision diffractometer, a fast-readout and high-gain CCD detector, and a sample exchange robot able to handle more than two hundred cryo-cooled samples stored in a Dewar, have been installed. To facilitate high-throughput data collection required for pharmaceutical researches, fully automated data collection and processing systems have been developed. With this framework, sample exchange, centering, data collection, and data processing are automatically carried out based on a user pre-defined schedule, enabling researchers to collect X-ray diffraction data sets from more than two hundreds samples.
Astellas Pharma Inc. has a priority access to AR-NE3A. The remaining beam time will be allocated to general academic users and other industrial users.
AR-NE3A is a high-throughput macromolecular crystallography beamline dedicated to pharmaceutical researches such as FBDD (Fragment Based Drug Discovery) and SBDD (Structure Based Drug Design). The development of this beamline was funded in partnership with Astellas Pharma Inc. The beamline delivers a high flux X-ray beam, which enables to collect a diffraction data set in a short period. In the end station, a high precision diffractometer, a fast-readout and high-gain CCD detector, and a sample exchange robot able to handle more than two hundred cryo-cooled samples stored in a Dewar, have been installed. To facilitate high-throughput data collection required for pharmaceutical researches, fully automated data collection and processing systems have been developed. With this framework, sample exchange, centering, data collection, and data processing are automatically carried out based on a user pre-defined schedule, enabling researchers to collect X-ray diffraction data sets from more than two hundreds samples.
This beamline is also used for general macromolecular crystallography experiments, and contributes to a wide range of researches in a life science field.
Beam Line
AR-NE3A
