Biomolecular Crystallography Facility

Find us in iLab

The Biophysical Instrumentation Facility, the Megalab Core and the Biomolecular Crystallography Facility have been combined to form the new Vanderbilt Center for Structural Biology Labs and Instrumentation Facility in iLab. Refer questions about Crystallography access, training and scheduling to Facility Director Joel Harp.

Overview

Crystallography allows for direct visualization of molecular structure at the atomic level. X-ray crystallography is the primary tool for the structural analysis of proteins and nucleic acids accounting for 85% of all models in the PDB. Macromolecular structures determined by X-ray crystallography provide answers to questions relating to molecular structure including issues of domain and fold architecture, ligand recognition and binding, and details of atomic bonding.

Mission Statement

The Biomolecular Crystallography Facility exists to make structural analysis by crystallography available to researchers on the Vanderbilt campus by providing state-of-the-art equipment and instrumentation, training, software, and support for all aspects of crystal structure solution. We strive to help crystallographers accomplish their work efficiently while being able to push the boundaries of the technology. The facility is also available to train and support researchers wanting to learn crystallography as a valuable research tool.

Data Collection

Vanderbilt investigators have access to synchrotron resources through membership in the Life Sciences Collaborative Access Team (LS-CAT) at the Advanced Photon Source of Argonne National Laboratory.

Contact us to learn more about crystallography at Vanderbilt University.