In This Issue

 A Word From Our President

When I was young I worked for my father/s business in my spare time. He owned (actually he/s still working at 84!) a school supply business and every year we would have an exhibit at the state-wide school teacher convention. I guess you could say that I became a businessman at an early age.

However, when I reached college I decided that business was the last thing I wanted to do with my life and so I became a scientist. As things have turned out I have returned to my childhood roots and have found a way to combine business and science.

Once again the high-season of tradeshows is upon us. For those of us in the instrumentation business, we gear our lives around the next few months as we have a unique window of opportunity to see old friends, meet new friends, and introduce our products to the world. Over the next two months we will be exhibiting at SEMICON West, the premier semiconductor tradeshow in San Francisco; the American Crystallographic Association in Chicago; the Denver X-ray Conference; and the European Crystallographic Meeting in Budapest. All of these meetings are unique in their own way and, as a company serving the X-ray community we appreciate the hard work and effort that the organizers for these meetings put into hosting a successful meeting.

We hope to see all of you at one of these meetings this summer.

Paul N. Swepston

Visit us on the web at www.rigaku.com

The Rigaku Journal

Vol. 21 No. 1 May 2004

• Structure Determination from Powder Diffraction: Data–challenging Battery Materials, by Peter Y. Zavalij and M. Stanley Whittingham
• Recent Developments in Polymer Characterization Using X-ray Diffraction, by N. Sanjeeva Murthy
• Simultaneous Measurements of X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) Data Under Controlled Humidity Condition: Instrumentation and Application to Studies Hydration, Dehydration, and Rehydration Processes of Pharmaceutical Compounds, by A. Kishi and H. Toraya
• XRD and XAFS Studies of Carbon Supported Pt–Ru Electrocatalyst in a Polymer-Electrolyte-Fuel- Cell, by Hisashi Yashiro and Kazuhito Hoshino
• Evaluation of Electrolyte Membrane for PEFC in Humid Atmosphere by Using SAXS and Thermal Analysis

The Annual National Meeting of the American Crystallographic Association, ACA will be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and Conference Center in downtown Chicago from Saturday, July 17 to Thursday, July 22, 2004.

In addition to our exhibit (booth 204), we will be hosting an informative luncheon on Sunday, July 18 in the Hyatt Regency. At the luncheon, we will present our new products, introduce new faces, review the past year, and discuss your future with the Rigaku group.

We are also hosting our annual Rigaku Fun Run/Walk on Tuesday, July 20 at 7:30PM. We will meet at front entrance of the Hyatt Regency. Refreshments, prizes and T-shirts will be given away after the event. Please return the consent form if you plan to run or walk (Make copies as needed). 

Note the following presentations by Rigaku employees:

Monday, July 19

• (W0148): Invited lecture: Winners and Losers - Ranking Crystals from Diffraction Images, Angela Criswell, Robert Bolotovsky, Thaddeus Niemeyer, Russ Athay, James Pflugrath.

• (P184) Rapid Charge Density Data Collection, Damon Parrish, J. Deschamps, A. Coop, L. Thatcher, H. Wu, J. Ferrara, L. Daniels
• (P006) Structure Solution for SF-1 By Combined SAD Phasing from the Sulfur Anomalous Signal with Molecular Replacement, Kevin P. Madauss, C. Yang, D. Juzumiene, S. Williams, J.D. Ferrara. 

Tuesday, July 20

• (P185): Performance Characteristics of a New Confocal Max-Flux^® optic coupled with a Sealed Tube Source, Kris Tesh, Angela Criswell, Adam Courville, Bret Simpson, Eric Hnath, Joseph D. Ferrara, Boris Verman, Licai Jiang
• (W0368) New Developments in Chromium Phasing, C. Yang, J. W. Pflugrath, A. Yamano, H. Kawasaki, H. Yamazaki, C. N. Stence, A. D. Courville, J. D. Ferrara. 
• (09.01) Topics for the Young Scientist, Interviewing Skills, Joseph Ferrara.

Calendar of Events

• SEMICON West, San Francisco, CA, July 12-14.
• American Crystallographic Association, Chicago, IL, July 17-22.
• Denver X-ray Conference, Steamboat Springs, CO, August 2-6.
• New York Structural Biology Group Meeting, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, August 4.
• Protein Society, San Diego, CA, August 14-18.
• American Chemical Society, Philadelphia, PA, August 23-25.
• European Crystallographic Meeting, Budapest, Hungary, August 26-31.
• Mine Expo, Las Vegas, NV, Sept. 27-30.
• Heart of Europe (HEC7), Krzyzowa, Poland, Sept. 30 - Oct. 2.

All conferences Rigaku will be attending in 2004.

Visit the Rigaku booth (#27) at the Denver X-ray Conference in Steamboat Springs, August 2 through 6. Exhibit hours are 10 to 5 (Monday through Wednesday) and 10 to 2 (Thursday). Exhibits will be located in the foyer, Sunset, Sunshine Peak and Mt. Werner rooms on the ground floor of the hotel. 

Take note of the following scheduled events and presentations:

Tuesday, August 3
6PM - 8PM       Rigaku, Inc. and MDI Reception and XRD Poster Session II

Wednesday, August 4
8:35AM  Tomoya Arai from Rigaku Corporation in Osaka, Japan will be presented the 2004 Birks Award

2:30PM  Grazing Incident X-ray Diffraction Analyses of Novel Magnetic Thin Films by K. Inaba, Y. Ito, K. Omote, H. Toraya, Rigaku Corporation

Thursday, August 4
9AM     A new ultra fast and low noise X-ray detector system by K. Omote, A. Tsukiyama, M. Kuraibayashi, T. Saito, Rigaku Corporation,

3:50PM  PPB Analysis by XRF; A new micro-droplet method for environmental liquid sample by T. Moriyama, Y. Yamada, H. Kohno, Rigaku Corporation and H. Inoue, J.E. Martin Rigaku

>>> Click here for More information

SEMICON West

d*TREK is a flexible, customizable, device-independent software suite and toolkit which processes single crystal X-ray diffraction images from two-dimensional position sensitive detectors such as imaging plate area detectors and charged-coupled device (CCD) detectors.  Thus, images from the Rigaku R-AXIS IV++, R-AXIS HTC, Saturn 70 and Saturn 92, as well as images from all synchrotron beamlines can be processed with d*TREK.  The ultimate result of the processing is a list of Bragg reflections which appear on those images with their Miller indices (hkl), estimated intensities, and standard deviations.

The software suite can display diffraction image files and determine the crystal unit cell, then integrate the images, confirm the Laue symmetry and scale the observed intensities to give a list of observed structure factors.  Users control the software with a graphical user interface or by scripts to provide totally automated processing.  A new feature of version 9.2 is the ability to automatically score or rank crystals for their diffraction quality, so that data is collected from only the best crystals with the best strategy.

>>> To try out d*TREK on your Mac, please request a free demo version from Rigaku.

RoboDesign News

RoboDesign has renamed the formerly known RoboMicroScope™ product line to the Minstrel product series to coincide with the naming convention of future products.

The Minstrel I™ is a fully modular and expandable protein crystal imaging and analysis system. With an extensive list of options, the Desktop Minstrel can be configured to meet a broad range of budget and performance requirements, from low-throughput research applications to ultra-demanding high-throughput drug discovery programs.

The Minstrel III™ is an ultra-high resolution imaging system that can quickly and consistently image hanging, sitting, or microbatch drops in any plate type. Images are produced with an unmatched level of clarity and sharpness that is absolutely critical for detecting crystal growth.

RoboDesign International, Inc., through its worldwide marketing partner, Rigaku, Inc. announced that the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) has chosen CrystalMation™ as its standard protein crystal imaging and analysis technology. The SGC will be utilizing the Minstrel III and RoboIncubator™ combinations for its high throughput crystallography facility.

"We are pleased and excited to support the SGC through the installation of CrystalMation," said Robert L. Corey, president and CEO of RoboDesign. "The SGC's goal of determining 200 protein structures per year absolutely requires automation that can address the bottlenecks associated with traditional methods of crystallization. We believe that our CrystalMation platform does just that by revolutionizing the way and speed in which crystallization is performed."

>>> Click here to view the full press release

Introducing Sweet Image™

Continuing with their tradition of innovation, RoboDesign introduces Sweet Image, an advanced software and hardware system that makes it much easier to identify protein crystals even in the worst of conditions. Viewing crystal images that are small, wispy, hidden, or in dark shadows can be extremely difficult and time consuming. Until now, no other system has been able to address this issue. But now with Sweet Image, you'll get what you're looking for. Sweet Image is especially effective at reducing the lensing or "dark ring" issue associated with the imaging of hanging drop experiments. A programmable light source first optimizes the imaging conditions for each plate or drop type. Sweet Image advanced software algorithms then further enhances the image by removing any heavy shading while still preserving all of the edges within the image, allowing you to view the details in the clearest manner possible. Sweet Image can be used in conjunction with the Minstrel I and Minstrel HT line of protein crystal imaging and analysis systems.

>>> Click here for More information

RoboDesign International, Inc.^® is a registered ISO 9001 firm.

Training Sessions

• XRF: 
  • November 2-4, 2004
• XRD:
  • (MiniFlex) October 13-14, 2004
  • (Ultima and MultiFlex) December 14-16, 2004
• Macromolecular: 
  • September 15-17, 2004

>>> Click here for More information

ActiveSight, Rigaku's structural biology service company, solved its first crystal structure of an undisclosed human drug target protein this month, using the powerful new Rigaku FR-E SuperBright™ X-ray generator. In addition to the FR-E and ACTOR™ robotic system, the facilities feature a RoboDesign CrystalMation system. The crew has been ably assisted by Julio Hernandez, who has relocated to the San Diego site.

 "I am very happy with how quickly we have been able to do our first project," said Duncan McRee, President of ActiveSight. "We only moved in to the building mid-January and we already have a fully functioning gene-to-structure capability."

"We/re also pleased with the level of interest in our services," stated Joy Silen, Director of Business Development. "We/re in serious discussions with a number of companies."

ActiveSight's contract services are centered on lead optimization co-crystallography.  Now that the equipment is up and running ActiveSight expects to produce a steady flow of human target structures to accelerate the drug design efforts at client companies. Inquiries are welcome: email info@rigaku.com or call Joy Silen at (858) 455-6870 x105. 

>>> Click here for More information

Ultra Carry

The influence of trace heavy elements, such as Cd, Pb, As, Cr, and Se, in water is a serious environmental problem. Rigaku has developed a method for testing samples in order to control this problem by monitoring wastewater quality. The method is simple, rapid reproducible, and easily traceable to certified water standards.

The method uses a standard X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer to provide results comparable to those of trace elements analyses performed by ICP-OES and AA. XRF has an advantage in that concentrations of the elements B through U can be determined non-destructively in a single analysis sequence. 

For trace element analysis of liquid samples with an XRF spectrometer, an improved micro-droplet method has been developed which enables analysis to ppb levels for these environmentally sensitive elements.

>>> Click here for More information

Rietveld Analysis may be considered a Fundamental Parameters program for XRD. It refines lattice parameters, peak width and shape, and preferred orientation to derive a new diffraction pattern. Once the derived pattern is refined to fit the original data various properties pertaining to the sample can be obtained, including:

• Accurate Quantitative Results (usually to within ±1%)

• Unit Cell Dimensions - phase chemistry and solid solutions

• Crystallite Size

• Crystal Structure - Atomic Site Occupancy Factors

The main advantage of Rietveld Analysis over conventional quantitative methods is that no standards are required to achieve accurate results to within ±1%. 

Below is a typical example. The sample is geological – a mixture of minerals that come from a mine. Once the Rietveld refinement has completed the display appears as follows:

The difference pattern shows minor ripples indicating that most of the intensity has been accounted for. The refined pattern also overlaps the original data nearly completely. At this point the final results are displayed.

>>> Click here for More information about the MiniFlex

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