High Brilliance X-ray Scattering for Life Science (LiX)
NIH has committed $45M to build three advanced beamlines dedicated to life sciences at NSLS-II. An additional $3M has been invested by Photon Sciences Division (PSD) at BNL and DOE for the construction of common frontend equipment of these beamlines. The three-beamline suite currently under construction by PSD includes two macromolecular crystallography beamlines, Frontier Macromolecular Crystallography at an Undulator (FMX) and Flexible Access Macromolecular Crystallography at an Undulator (AMX), and an X-ray scattering beamline, High Brilliance X-ray Scattering for Life Sciences (LiX).
LiX will deliver x-ray beam over an energy range of 2-20keV using an undulator source to support simultaneous SAXS/WAXS to cover 0.003-3Å-1 at 12 keV with 1 micron spot size. It will be possible to perform time-resolved solution scattering with resolution of microseconds to milliseconds using continuous-flow mixing (5µm x 10µm spot size) and milliseconds using stopped flow mixing or micro-drop mixing (50µm x 20µm spot size). The LiX beamline will also support other cutting edge experiments, for example, grazing incidence scattering, including anomalous scattering near P K-edge, from membrane structures in multiple bilayers as well as single lipid bilayers that contain membrane proteins (1µm vertical spot size). Micro-beam diffraction from biological tissue for imaging and tomography (1µm spot size) will also be supported at LiX.