SPring-8, the large synchrotron radiation facility

Skip to content
» JAPANESE
Personal tools
 

Realization of High-Speed High-Accuracy Data Collection Using a New Type of Detector Equipped with CMOS Sensor - Accelerating the development of new drugs and research into the treatment of intractable diseases (Press Release)

Release Date
27 Nov, 2009
  • BL38B1 (Structural Biology III)
  • BL41XU (Structural Biology I)
  • BL44B2 (RIKEN Materials Science)
Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute, jointly with RIKEN, has developed a new method of collecting diffraction data at high speed and high accuracy using a new type of X-ray detector equipped with a CMOS sensor (X-ray CMOS detector), with the aim of determining the crystal structure of proteins.

Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute
RIKEN

 

Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI; Tetsuhisa Shirakawa, President), jointly with RIKEN (Ryoji Noyori, President), has developed a new method of collecting diffraction data at high speed and high accuracy using a new type of X-ray detector equipped with a CMOS sensor* (X-ray CMOS detector), with the aim of determining the crystal structure of proteins. This achievement is expected to markedly accelerate research into protein crystallography being carried out in Japan and overseas and to greatly advance the research and development of medicines, research into the treatment of intractable diseases, and other fields.

Currently, the X-ray crystal structural analysis of proteins is being carried out worldwide mainly using X-ray detectors equipped with a charge-coupled device (CCD) sensor (CCD detectors); however, further improvements are required in terms of measurement efficiency and accuracy. In this research, scientists developed a new continuous rotation method, in which high-brilliance X-rays produced at the Structural Biology III Beamline (BL38B1), the Structural Biology I Beamline (BL41XU) or the RIKEN Materials Science Beamline (BL44B2) of SPring-8 are continuously irradiated to rotating protein crystals and the obtained X-ray diffraction images are collected using a fast-readout X-ray CMOS detector, as if they were being taken by a video camera. Thus, improved measurement speed, reducing the measurement period by half, and improved measurement accuracy were achieved.

The results of this research were obtained by a joint research group consisting of Kazuya Hasegawa, associate senior scientist at JASRI, and Masaki Yamamoto, director of the Research Infrastructure Group at RIKEN, and published in the scientific journal, Journal of Applied Crystallography (issued by the International Union of Crystallography located in the United Kingdom), on 1 December 2009.

Publication:
"Development of a shutterless continuous rotation method using an X-ray CMOS detector for protein crystallography"
Kazuya Hasegawa, Kunio Hirata, Tetsuya Shimizu, Nobutaka Shimizu, Takaaki Hikima, Seiki Baba, Takashi Kumasaka and Masaki Yamamoto
Journal of Applied Crystallography 42 (6), 1165 – 1175 (2009), published online 17 November 2009.

 

<Figure>

 

Fig. 1 Schematic of continuous rotation method using X-ray CMOS detector

Fig. 1 Schematic of continuous rotation method using X-ray CMOS detector

 

 

Fig. 2 X-ray CMOS detector, C10158DK

Fig. 2 X-ray CMOS detector, C10158DK

 

 

Fig. 3 Schematic of X-ray CMOS detector (left) and principle of X-ray detection (right)

Fig. 3 Schematic of X-ray CMOS detector (left) and principle of X-ray detection (right)

 

 

Fig. 4 Steric structure of protein determined by continuous rotation method using X-ray CMOS detector

Fig. 4 Steric structure of protein determined by continuous rotation method using X-ray CMOS detector

 

<Glossary>

*CMOS sensor
CMOS is an abbreviation of Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor, which is a type of semiconductor device structure. CMOS sensors are image sensors fabricated using a CMOS structure.

 

 

For more information, please contact:
Dr. Kazuya Hasegawa (JASRI/SPring-8)
e-mail: mail,

or
Dr. Masaki Yamamoto (RIKEN)
e-mail: mail.

 

 

Previous Article
World's First Superlight Irradiating Protein Microcrystals - One-micrometer-wide beam was realized at the protein crystallography beamline for the first time in the world. (Press Release)
Current article
Realization of High-Speed High-Accuracy Data Collection Using a New Type of Detector Equipped with CMOS Sensor - Accelerating the development of new drugs and research into the treatment of intractable diseases (Press Release)
Next Article
Discovery of Liquid Crystal Structure Bifurcated in Form of Ant Colony -Serving as a new motif of liquid crystalline organic semiconductors with three-dimensional charge transport path (Topic)