David Jacques' abstract

Bragg Speaks Seminar
Building 83 Conference Room (OPAL Visitor Centre), ANSTO

Thursday 28 October 2010

11:00 am

"Small-angle scattering for structural biology - Expanding the frontier while avoiding the pitfalls"

David Jacques

School of Molecular Bioscience, The University of Sydney

The last decade has seen a dramatic increase in the use of small-angle scattering for the study of biological macromolecules in solution. The drive for more complete structural characterization of proteins and their interactions, coupled with the increasing availability of instrumentation and easy-to-use software for data analysis and interpretation, is expanding the utility of the technique beyond the domain of the biophysicist and into the realm of the protein scientist. However, the absence of publication standards and the ease with which 3D models can be calculated against the inherently 1D scattering data means that an understanding of sample quality, data quality, and modelling assumptions is essential to have confidence in the results. The seminar will focus on the necessary quality control experiments for biological small-angle scattering, drawing on examples from our recent work on haemoglobin capture during Staphylococcus aureus (Golden Staph) infection.

_{Updated 20 Sept 2010. New date.}