[3dem] Re: request

[Steven Ludtke]

Hi William. SAXS has been used with Cryo-EM quite a bit, though even that has fallen off in recent years as CryoEM resolutions have gotten down to 5 Å or so. SANS hasn't been used much as far as I can recall (or am aware). One of the benefits of SAXS with CryoEM is that hard X-rays and electrons scatter very similarly, making direct comparisons more straightforward. However, as you say, there may be potential applications where SANS could be quite useful in probing things we can't easily probe with electrons. I don't mind chatting on the phone about it, but I'm not sure how much I can offer personally. What I'd actually suggest is the 3dem mailing list, which reaches virtually the entire cryo-EM community : "3dem at ncmir.ucsd.edu" <3dem at ncmir.ucsd.edu>

People make announcements about this sort of thing fairly frequently, so I don't think anyone is likely to resent your message. You will have to join the list (it's pretty low-bandwidth, usually a few messages a week), before you can send messages, as people may reply to you via the list, rather than directly. Just make sure to explain a little about SANS and its capabilities as part of the message. You can always drop membership after giving people a couple of weeks to respond...

If you want to chat, as a practical matter, we may have to wait until the new year. I'm leaving for x-mas holidays early next week, and tied up in meetings/events almost continuously until then...

cheers
(and Merry X-mas)

On Dec 14, 2012, at 12:09 PM, "Heller, William T." <hellerwt at ornl.gov> wrote:

> Steve,
>                 I hope that all is going well for you at BCM.  Huey Huang visited ORNL recently and it certainly sounded like that was the case. 
>  
> The Biology and Soft Matter Division of the Neutron Sciences Directorate at ORNL is seeking to expand its portfolio of for neutron scattering in the biological sciences.  To that end, we are contacting research groups that could potentially benefit from the facilities at ORNL.  While I realize that there is unlikely to be strong interest from you specifically, I was hoping that you would have time for a chat regarding potential members of the virology and/or EM communities who might benefit from complementary data from neutron scattering experiments, such as SANS for improving models of RNA packing in the core of virions or from non-destructive in situ studies of virion structural changes.  I thought that your position as co-director of the NCMI might have put you into contact with a fairly large community of researchers.
>  
>                 Would you be willing to speak briefly, and would you have time next week before the holidays?
>  
> Sincerely,
>                 William
>  
> William T. Heller, Ph.D.
> Biology and Soft Matter Division
> Neutron Sciences Directorate
> EQ-SANS Lead Instrument Scientist
> Oak Ridge National Laboratory
> PO Box 2008; MS-6473
> Oak Ridge, TN 37831
>  
> phone 865-241-0093
> fax  865-574-8363
> email  hellerwt at ornl.gov
>  
> Adjunct Associate Professor
> Department of Molecular & Structural Biology
> North Carolina State University
>  
>  

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steven Ludtke, Ph.D.
Professor, Dept of Biochemistry and Mol. Biol.         (www.bcm.edu/biochem)
Co-Director National Center For Macromolecular Imaging        (ncmi.bcm.edu)
Co-Director CIBR Center                          (www.bcm.edu/research/cibr)
Baylor College of Medicine                             
sludtke at bcm.edu





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