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February 2011
Anisotropic Picosecond X-ray Solution Scattering from Photo-selectively Aligned Protein Molecules
Kim, J., K.H. Kim, J.G. Kim, T.W. Kim, Y. Kim, H. Ihee, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2 350-356 (2011).
Anisotropic X-ray scattering patterns of transiently aligned protein molecules in solution are measured by using pump−probe X-ray solution scattering. When a linearly polarized laser pulse interacts with an ensemble of molecules, the population of excited molecules is created with their transition dipoles preferentially aligned along the laser polarization direction. We measured the X-ray scattering from the myoglobin protein molecules excited by a linearly polarized, short laser pulse and obtained anisotropic scattering patterns on a 100 ps time scale. An anisotropic scattering pattern contains higher structural information content than a typical isotropic pattern available from randomly oriented molecules. In addition, multiple independent diffraction patterns measured by using various laser polarization orientations will give a substantially increased amount of structural information compared with that from a single isotropic pattern. By monitoring the temporal change of the anisotropic scattering pattern from 100 ps to 1 μs, we observed the orientational dynamics of photogenerated myoglobin with the rotational diffusion time of 
15 ns.
Facility News
August 2010
Moffat to Receive ACA Patterson Award
BioCARS Principal Investigator Keith Moffat has been selected as the recipient of the 2011 Patterson Award, given by the American Crystallographic Association. The award, established in 1980 to honor A. Lindo Patterson, recognizes and encourages outstanding research in the structure of matter by diffraction methods, including significant contributions to the methodology of structure determination and/or innovative application of diffraction methods and/or elucidation of biological, chemical, geological, or physical phenomena using new structural information. Moffat will be honored for his work in pioneering ultrafast time resolved x-ray diffraction using synchrotron radiation to capture the function of fundamental protein processes at atomic resolution.