Anastasya Shilova

Room-temperature serial crystallography

Room-temperature (RT) serial crystallography data are of comparable quality and have several advantages over the single-crystal X-ray data collected at cryogenic temperatures. Serial methods overcome the limitations of X-ray-induced radiation damage, enable time-resolved investigations of protein kinetics and reduce crystal handling. Moreover, RT structure determination is more physiologically relevant. Serial RT data collection scheme can be performed at XFEL sources (Serial Femtosecond Crystallography, SFX), but due to the scarcity of the beamtime available at XFEL facilities, serial data collection is now done also at synchrotron sources in a routine manner (Serial Synchrotron Crystallography, SSX). SFX/SSX approaches require continuous replenishment of the sample, as typically only one diffraction pattern is obtained from each single crystal. This requires development of novel and versatile sample delivery methods and work on improved data processing pipelines. As a part of the XFEL-Hub team I am involved in the development of serial data collection schemes at Diamond/XFELs (sample testing, sample delivery) as well as direct user support during and after the experiments.

A. Shilova et al. Current status and future opportunities for serial crystallography at MAXIV laboratory, Journal of Synchrotron Radiation v. 27, N 5,, p. 1095‑102 (2020)

T. Ursby, A. Shilova, et al. – BioMAX the first macromolecular crystallography beamline at MAXIV laboratory, Journal of Synchrotron Radiation  v.27, N 5,, p. 1415‑29 (2020)

R. Andersson, R.Neutze, G.Branden, A.Shilova et al. Well-based crystallization of lipidic cubic phase microcrystals for serial X-ray crystallography experiments, Acta Cryst.  D75, 937-946 (2019)

Kurauskas, V., Izmailov, S.A., Rogacheva, O.N., Shilova A. et al. Slow conformational exchange and overall rocking motion in ubiquitin protein crystals. Nat Commun 8, 145 (2017)

Nogly P., James D., Wang D., White T.A., Zatsepin N., Shilova A. et al. Lipidic cubic phase serial millisecond crystallography using synchrotron radiation. IUCrJ, 2(2),168-176 (2015)

Coquelle, N., Brewster, A.S., Kapp, U., Shilova, A., Weinhausen, B., Burghammer, M. & Colletier, J-P.  Raster-scanning serial protein crystallography using micro- and nano-focused synchrotron beams Acta Cryst. D71, 1184-1196 (2015)