Specific Synchrotron Radiation Facilities Users Community (SpRUC)

Structural analysis of biomacromolecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids, has become an indispensable methodology for understanding life phenomena at a molecular level, as well as for industrial applications including rational drug design and protein engineering. Most of the structural data registered in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) have been obtained through X-ray crystallography; atomic-resolution structural analysis using synchrotron radiation remains an essential technique for elucidating the detailed structural information of biomolecules. In recent years, "correlative structural biology"?which integrates structural analysis methods like small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), vibrational spectroscopy, X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS), cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) with time-resolved measurements and theoretical calculations?has been vigorously promoted, significantly contributing to the elucidation of the relationship between biomolecular structure and function across diverse hierarchies.
Biopolymers responsible for various biological functions exhibit diverse properties; consequently, the performance required for synchrotron beamlines is as broad as the variety of samples. At SPring-8, there are not only public beamlines operated by JASRI but also beamlines managed and operated by RIKEN, the Institute for Protein Research (IPR) at Osaka University, and other entities, with users spanning across academia, industry, and government. To facilitate the effective utilization of these diverse research environments, the "Basis for Supporting Innovative Drug Discovery and Life Science Research (BINDS)" project, launched in FY2017, has promoted collaboration between synchrotron radiation and other methodologies such as cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) and NMR. Furthermore, the application of X-ray Free Electron Lasers (XFEL) for dynamic structural analysis has advanced significantly, with efforts underway to diversify analytical techniques in coordination with other methods.
Under these circumstances, the shared use of cryo-TEM at SPring-8 commenced in FY2021, joining the L1 sub-group alongside bioSAXS at BL38B1. In FY2022, the sub-groups were reorganized into the Structural Biology (SB) sub-group, and the BINDS project entered a new phase. Moreover, with the start of operations at NanoTerasu in 2024 and the ongoing upgrade plans for the next-generation light source, SPring-8-II, there is an urgent need to address the evolving requirements of the user community. Given the current landscape of structural biology described above, this research group aims to serve as a bridge between SPring-8 and structural biology researchers, with the goal of further advancing synchrotron radiation structural biology.