2019 Workshop on Advanced Crystallography

December 14-15, 2019

NSF’s ChemMatCARS, Sector 15, Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory

About the Workshop

NSF’s ChemMatCARS recently received two major NSF awards: renewal funding for the next 5 years of operations and funding for the construction of a second beamline, which will significantly expand our capabilities.

The new beamline will not only increase capacity but also make possible new types of experiments, such as serial crystallography and resonant diffraction carried out below 5 keV. The new beamline will be built in parallel with the APS upgrade (APS-U).

This is an opportune time to evaluate our current advanced crystallography program at NSF’s ChemMatCARS as well as select new scientific directions and develop the associated potential user communities. In parallel, it is an opportunity to discuss how we can make our world-class research resources and environment more available to under-represented groups and empower faculty and students based at predominantly undergraduate institutions (PUI).

The purpose of this workshop is to review the current scientific program in advanced crystallography and explore how our program could benefit from the APS-U. We will consider opportunities for both the main beamline (high energy) and the new canted undulator beamline.

The workshop will focus on the following topics through presentations and small-group discussions (see the Discussion Topics page for more information):

1. Technique development
   • Serial crystallography of small molecules
   • In situ structural dynamics
   • Real-time measurement of combined spectroscopy and advanced crystallography
2. Resonant diffraction and DAFS below 5 keV
3. Service crystallography infrastructure (automation of sample loading, remote data collection)
4. Software development, including
   • Data collection
   • Data reduction
   • Data analysis in real time
5. Visibility/awareness of NSF’s ChemMatCARS
6. Outreach, including training, workshops, and expanding access for under-represented groups and PUI researchers

An optional lunch discussion will focus on ways to improve the current established experiments.

The workshop is supported by NSF grant #1836674, “NSF’s ChemMatCARS: Construction of a Second Beamline using a Canted Undulator at the Advanced Photon Source,” Mark Schlossman (Principal Investigator), Matthew Tirrell, Binhua Lin, Ka Yee Lee, and Yu-Sheng Chen (Co-Principal Investigators).