Research and Development

Our Science

Research and development in the SMB group at SSRL focus on novel approaches to problems in structural biology using synchrotron radiation. Core efforts include developing new methodological approaches to data collection from microscrystals; coupling scientific advances with software and hardware engineering to create intuitive and robust data collection environments; and establishment of a high-throughput pipeline to address needs in structural genomics and structure aided drug discovery; studies of protein dynamics including time resolved serial crystallography experiments in synergy with the XFEL source at LCLS. Challenging structural biology projects are being undertaken to develop, test, and improve methods.

Collaborative efforts between users and staff result in many peer reviewed publications. You can find a list of selected citations here.

User Science

The SSRL structural molecular biology program supports a large and productive user community who publish high impact science in the diverse fields within life sciences including biomedicine and drug discovery, biocatalysis, biochemistry, bioproduct and biofuels research. The science highlights feature high impact research based on data totally or partially collected at the SSRL macromolecular crystallography beamlines. Many of these scientific highlights have been included in reports to funding agencies and have been reported by other media. Users are strongly encouraged to contact SSRL or use the Publication Reporting Form when exciting results are about to be published.

Educational Opportunities

SSRL provides a variety of educational opportunities including but not limited to summer internships, workshops (such as our annual RapiData workshop), as well as conferences, lectures and seminar series. Students of all levels are encouraged to apply!