Replacement of Equipment for Protein and Small Molecule X-ray Crystallography

The application concerns REPLACEMENT of most of the central equipment for protein and small molecule crystallography in Tromsø. Present equipment has been used very extensively over (very) many years but is now worn out, outdated and becoming very diffi cult to service. The individual items are as follows: 1) Nonius rotaing anode generator - this was installed as the X-ray source for a FAST area detector system in 1991. IT IS THE X-RAY SOURCE FOR ALL PROTEIN CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC WORK in Tromsø and is thu s vital for both Intstitute and NORSTRUCT projects. Replacement parts are no longer available so that the next failure may well be permanent. Such a failure will cause very serious problems for all protein crystallography in Tromsø. 2) CAD4 diffractomet er and generator - CAD4 was purchased in 1975 and has been in continuous and highly successfull use since then. At present small-molecule diffraction data is being collected at the rate of 50-60 structures per year comprising Tromsø projects (in-house and Pharmacy) and a service for colleagues at the universities in Oslo (Pharmacy), Trondheim (serveral departments), Madrid, Spain and Bloemfontein, SA. The mechanical components are now very worn and, again, are difficult to obtain so that servicing is bec oming difficult. The X-ray generator presently in use dates from ca 1975 but has been kept in use so far using components from a scrapped instrument from the Intitute of Geology. The laboratory's requirements may be met using: A single instrument packa ge such as "Gemini PX Ultra" recently announced by Oxford Diffraction Ltd. or: A several-component solution consisting of a free-standing generator with kappa goniometer, cooling and a CCD-detector and an appropriate high intensity generator with fo cussing to serve the present R-axis IV+ image plate system for protein crystallography. Current prices for these options are very similar at present.