The Southeast Regional Collaborative Access Team (SER-CAT) is an organization consisting of 26 member institutions, initially formed in 1997 to provide third generation x-ray capabilities to macro-molecular crystallographers and structural biologists in the southeastern region of this country. 

Emphasis is placed on new structure determinations, high-resolution structural analyses, drug design, protein engineering, site-directed mutagenesis projects, and support of the genome program. SER-CAT is located at the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, and is operated by the University of Georgia, with Professor Bi-Cheng Wang as Director.

Please peruse the pages of our website to find out more about SER-CAT and how we are "shining a new light" on protein crystallography.  Have a look at The SER-CAT Spectrum, our biannual newsletter, to learn about recent breakthroughs.  As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome. 

Thank you for visiting! 

 

*ANNOUNCEMENTS*

General Information

SER-CAT 2008 Symposium and Board Meeting

The Fifth Annual SER-CAT Symposium was held on March 7, 2008 at the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina. The attendees shared recent, significant crystallographic research discoveries and practical beamline users' tools.

SER-CAT would like to thank this year's organizer, Dr. Christopher Davies, and the Medical University of South Carolina for hosting such an outstanding meeting. We also would like to thank each of the contributing vendors noted below, and all of our speakers for their strong participation and support. A full program for the meeting's activities and an abstract booklet may be found at (programs and abstracts).

SER-CAT would like to sincerely thank and acknowledge the following Sponsors for their support of the 2008 5th Annual SER-CAT Symposium: South Carolina EPSCoR/IDeA; Rigaku; Qiagen; and MUSC Center for Structural Biology.

In addition to having a wonderful array of research information presented at the Symposium, SER-CAT is pleased to recognize the outstanding achievements made by two individuals at the SER-CAT facility. This year's research awards were presented to Dr. Dmitry Vassylyev of University of Alabama at Birmingham who received the SER-CAT Outstanding Science Award; and Dr. Da Jia of Emory University who received the SER-CAT Young Investigator Award. Congratulations to both award recipients for their achievements at SER-CAT!

 

The SER-CAT Approach!
We would like to share with our site visitors, a slide presentation given by SER-CAT Director, B.C. Wang, at the 9th International Conference on Biology and Synchrotron Radiation in Manchester, England, entitled, "Remaining Challenges in Long Wavelength Phasing: The SER-CAT Approach" (PDF). This presentation highlights SER-CAT's work on data collection at all possible wavelengths, including that for sulfur phasing. We hope that you enjoy the presentation and as always, comments are welcomed!

 

B.C. Wang Receives the 2008 ACA Patterson Award!

We are very pleased to announce that Dr. Bi-Cheng (B.C.) Wang, SER-CAT Director, has been selected as the recipient of the American Crystallographic Association's (ACA) 2008 Patterson Award. As noted in the Summer 2007 ACA newsletter, B.C. was selected, "for (his) significant contribution to the methodology of structure determination from single isomorphous replacement or single-wavelength anomalous scattering data and for its impact on structural biology." 

The Patterson Award is given every three years to recognize and encourage outstanding research in structural biology methodology.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Wang on receiving this significant award from the ACA and its selection committee!

 

B.C. Wang Receives the Golden Magnolia Award!

During the 2007 symposium, SER-CAT Director, Bi-Cheng (B.C.) Wang was presented with the Golden Magnolia Award by the SER-CAT Executive Board and colleagues for his ten years of dedicated service and conscientious guidance of the program from inception to SER-CAT’s current status as one of the most productive beamlines in the nation. He then presented a talk, titled, “SER-CAT: The First 10 Years," which can be viewed in PDF format here on the SER-CAT website.

 

The First Ten Years at SER-CAT
We are celebrating a very special milestone! It has been ten years since the establishment of SER-CAT and we are proud to celebrate a decade of service to the crystallography community. In honor of the occasion, Dr. Bi-Cheng Wang, SER-CAT Director, has created a special presentation to mark the achievement. Please be sure to view SER-CAT: The First 10 Years PDF document and see how far we've come. We appreciate the support we have received and we look forward to many more productive years at SER-CAT!  Thank you!

 

Gerold Rosenbaum Receives the Compton Award
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Gerold Rosenbaum, SER-CAT’s Senior Beamline Scientist and previous Construction Manager, has been chosen as one of this year’s recipients to receive the 2007 APS Compton Award by the APS Selection Committee.  The Award was presented to Dr. Rosenbaum on May 7, 2007 during the APS User’s Meeting at the Argonne National Laboratory.  It was given in recognition of his pioneering contributions towards the development of biological synchrotron X-ray diffraction, and for his contributions towards APS science through his design and construction of beamlines such as the SER-CAT's 22ID and 22BM, SBC-CAT’s 19ID and 19BM, and others around the world. 

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Rosenbaum for his outstanding contributions to biological synchrotron X-ray diffraction, and for providing the community with excellent beamlines at the APS and elsewhere.  This award was presented to him during the first science session of the User’s Meeting.  More information on the award may be found on the APS web site at http://www.aps.anl.gov/News/APS_News/2007/20070402_b.htm

 

Congratulations to our 2007 Award Winners!
Thank you to everyone who submitted to the SER-CAT’s call for Award nominations and we would like to applaud our 2007 winners!

Dr. Ping Liu of Georgia State University received the SER-CAT Young Investigator Award in recognition of her work on Geobacillus sterothermophilus carboxylesterase Est55.

Professor Michael Wiener of the University of Virginia received the SER-CAT Outstanding Science Award in recognition of his work on the Structure of the BtuB:TonB Complex.

The SER-CAT Awards were presented at the 4th Annual SER-CAT Symposium, on Friday, March 16, 2007 in Frederick, Maryland. Both awardees presented a 20-minute talk on their work at the symposium. Congratulations to our winners!

2008 SER-CAT Young Investigator Award and Outstanding Science Award Nominations Forms

 
  • Users should avoid bringing firewire drives with metal cases for use at the beamlines. The metal, being a wonderful heat conductor, is causing thermal failure because of the long download time required for data collection.

  • The BM Robot is now fully commissioned and the ID Robot is in the Commissioning Stage.  First time robotics users must contact a SER-CAT staff member prior to their visit.

    The 18mm Mounted litholoops are from Molecular Dimensions.

    The ALS Style magnetic caps are from Hampton Research, P/N HR4-779.

    The dry shipping dewars compatible with SER-CAT puck holder are from
    Taylor-Wharton (Model: CX100 or CXR100). The product vendor is:
    www.discountcryo.com.

    The SER-CAT robot pucks, puck holder and tools are from Boyd Technologies at Box 95, Manchester, CA 95459. You may call them at  (707) 882-1630; FAX: (707) 882-1745
     

  • SER-CAT Featured on World Business Review
     SER-CAT was recently featured on the TV program World Business Review, which aired on the Bravo network in February 2005.  You can now view the segment in streaming audio following the links below.  We have already received a lot of positive feedback on the film, which has proven to be a valuable publicity tool for our program.  If you would like a copy on CD or DVD for your personal use or to distribute to others, please let us know.

Windows Media video (300K)
Real Player video (300K)

Photo of the Advanced Photon Source in Argonne, IL. Dr. John Chrzas smiles during a presentation at the Atlanta Symposium

Dr. James Lui works in the lab

Members view a presentation during the Atlanta Symposium on March 10, 2006. Group photo of several 3rd Annual Symposium Attendees

The Beamline dedication ceremony in Argonne, IL