Status of the crystallography beamlines at Diamond Light Source

Abstract

X-ray crystallography is one of the most widely supported areas of science at Diamond Light Source and is the core technique on a third of the beamlines, accounting for almost a half of user publications across the whole facility. The life science community can currently call on six macromolecular crystallography beamlines (I02, I03, I04, I04-1, I23 and I24) to satisfy the increasing demand for the determination of macromolecular crystal structures from both the academic and pharmaceutical communities. In the physical sciences, there are four beamlines (I11, I15, I16 and I19) that cater for crystallographic studies ranging from the structure solution of small-molecule systems, the determination of structure at extreme conditions and the detailed analysis of the weak diffraction signal from magnetic structures. The physical science beamlines use both single-crystal and powder-diffraction techniques. All the crystallography beamlines at Diamond ensure they undergo a continuous programme of development to enable new technologies and the science they support. In this article, the current status of all the crystallography beamlines at Diamond will be discussed along with some examples of the science they have supported since they became operational.