In situ (plate) data collection

In situ (ie. crystallisation plate) screening or data collection is now available on ID30B using a specially designed MD2-S plate holder. We currently support CrystalDirect, In Situ-1, and CrystalQuick-X format plates for room temerature experiments using a fixed 20 micron diameter aperture between 6 and 20 keV. Plate navigation and data collection (single/multi-position or fast mesh scanning) capabilities have been fully integrated into MxCuBE (see below). We will allocate 1 shift (8hrs) every second Wednesday (even weeks) for such experiments until further notice. Depending on the number of plates/drops to be screened (or collected) this time can be further divided into shorter beamtime slots. On average it takes less than 5 minutes per drop for simple screening, but longer times are required for more complex data collection experiments. Plate exchange is currently manual but users are free to send or leave thier plates (a 20 ^oC crystal storage room is available) and perform experiments on the next available date. We're currently working on the integration of in situ experimental planning and shipping procedures in Extended ISPyB for MX (ExiMX) and a FlexHCD transfer tool is also under development.

Figure 1. MxCuBEv2 screenshot of in situ setup available on ID30B.