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| Newsletter Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 2005 | |||||
| In This Issue |
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 | A word from our president |  With
too much time on my hands during an Easter weekend in Tokyo, I have
been pondering the discovery of new genes. I have concluded that
there must be a gene, perhaps called EEH (Easter egg hunting
gene), the dominance of which is first observed as a young child.
Our family movies are full of Easter scenes showing my siblings and
me hunting Easter eggs. Of course this raises the question of nature
versus nurture. Was I naturally inclined to hunt eggs based on the EEH
gene, or was my behavior modified because hunting eggs was the only
activity that triggered the family movie camera? A related gene and
one that only shows up later in life is the GBH gene (golf
ball hunting gene). Most golfers keep score by counting the number
of strokes that they make during a round. The fewer strokes the
better. But I keep score by counting the number of golf balls I find
in the woods or water (no snide comments, please, about why I would
be in the woods or near the water instead of the fairway). The more
balls I find, the better my round was. Nature versus nurture? It
drives my neighbor nuts if I find more balls than he does (positive
pleasure feedback for me) so there must be a little bit of both
involved in this behavior trait.
What has this got to do with a scientific instrument newsletter? Rigaku has just announced an agreement with Proteros to distribute a new product called the FMS or Free Mounting® System. This system is used to optimize the diffraction resolution of protein crystals by optimizing the humidity of the crystalline environment. This technique has been shown to have a significant impact on the diffraction resolution of some protein crystals and provides one more tool in the crystallographer's toolkit for structure determination. Our hope is that this product will have a positive impact on the hunt to find suitable crystals for difficult protein structures. Scientists all seem to have an internal drive to discover something; whether this behavior is controlled genetically by an FSD gene (fantastic scientific discovery gene) or behaviorally controlled by the desire to scoop your scientific colleagues is still a matter open for debate. But no matter what drives your motivation for scientific success, Rigaku will always strive to provide you with the best tools for the hunt. Paul N. Swepston | ||||
| | XRF at BCA 2005 | |||||
| | Rigaku to distribute Proteros Free Mounting System | |||||
| | ActiveSight announces new targets | |||||
| | 2005 Training sessions | |||||
| | Rigaku purchases RoboDesign International | |||||
| | Rigaku at ACA 2005 | |||||
| | Newsletter format | |||||
| | Rigaku/EIT news | |||||
| | Pittcon 2005 | |||||
| Visit us on the web at www.rigaku.com | ||||||
| Rigaku to distribute Proteros Free Mounting System™ | ||||||
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The
BCA
2005 Spring Meeting features for the first time a parallel X-ray
Fluorescence (XRF) session to run alongside the usual
crystallography content. It will cover both energy dispersive (EDXRF) and
wavelength dispersive (WDXRF). The scope of the commercial
exhibition is extended to include XRF equipment and supplies.
On April 13, Al Martin from Rigaku will present:
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Rigaku,
Inc. announced an agreement with Proteros
Biostructures GmbH (Martinsried, Germany) regarding exclusive
global distribution rights for the Proteros Free
Mounting System. Rigaku will be responsible for all marketing,
sales, and service worldwide for this new product. The Free
Mounting System represents a significant advance
in that it can dramatically improve the quality of X-ray
crystallographic data obtained for macromolecular structure
determination within the fields of proteomics and structural
genomics. In addition to major universities and research centers
(like structural biology beamlines at synchrotrons), the product is
expected to appeal to biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms wishing
to either increase their productivity or rescue difficult crystal
specimens. Joseph D. Ferrara, CSO at Rigaku, observed that "rescue
technologies are going to lead the next wave of structural proteomics … and are
the driving force of this new product. Structural proteomics studies
to date have suffered from the loss of so many proteins, along the
way from cloning through structural determination, that it points
out the industry/s urgent need for methodology improvements like
the Free Mounting System." Free
Mounting System is an integrated solution for
optimization of protein crystals used in the collection of X-ray
crystallographic data. Used in real-time conjunction with an X-ray
diffractometer system, a protein crystal is mounted in a cryo-loop
at room temperature and positioned in the center of a stream of gas
for which the humidity and temperature are precisely controlled and
adjustable. In this system, it is then possible to manipulate the
crystal in different ways and simultaneously analyze diffraction
behavior so as to optimize the crystal for the best possible
diffraction resolution. Because
of the large size and irregular shape of protein molecules, coupled
to solvent content from 30% to 70%, protein crystals are often both
unstable and poorly ordered. Research has shown that humidity
manipulations can have the effect of well defined (and reversible)
unit cell modifications and can be employed as a tool for
recrystallization involving annealing or reordering of a crystal. Free
Mounting System is the first commercially
available product to exploit this phenomenon. | |||||
| Calendar of events | ActiveSight announces new targets | |||||
Rigaku will be attending the following conferences in
spring 2005:
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Three new targets have been added to ActiveSight's Protein Portfolio of co-crystallization-ready proteins. Rigaku's structural biology service company has just announced the availability of the human kinase Aurora-A, the nuclear hormone receptor FXR, and the bacterial enzyme DNA Gyrase B. The new targets cover a variety of therapeutic areas. Aurora-A is an oncogenic serine/threonine kinase target with a key role in cell division. FXR, a bile acid sensor and regulator of bile acid homeostasis, is an emerging target with therapeutic potential for the modulation of cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Gyrase B, the target of existing quinolone and coumarin antibiotics, is the subject of active research to find novel inhibitors. ActiveSight plans to add additional kinases, nuclear hormone receptors, and proteases to the Protein Portfolio which already includes human Hsp90 and Fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase. ActiveSight's contract services are centered on lead optimization co-crystallography. Inquiries are welcome: email info@rigaku.com or call Joy Silen at (858) 455-6870 x105.
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| Rigaku, Inc. purchases RoboDesign International | ||||||
Rigaku is pleased to announce the
following training sessions for 2005:
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In March Rigaku, Inc. announced the
purchase of all outstanding shares of RoboDesign
International Incorporated, a lab automation products and custom
engineering solutions company. Dedicated to the development of
biotech and laboratory automation equipment and robotics, including
the latest integrated technologies for protein crystallization
growth, storage, retrieval, and imaging, RoboDesign/s products
enable greatly enhanced productivity for pharmaceutical and
biotechnology organizations involved in proteomics and structural
biology research.
RoboDesign, as the newest subsidiary of Rigaku, Inc., will enhance its focus on delivery of fully integrated automated solutions for high-throughput protein crystal growth and screening so as to integrate with Rigaku/s other recent initiatives, including the development of software that spans the entire range from single crystal X-ray diffraction data collection through structure solution (Molecular Images division) as well as Rigaku/s line of high-throughput home laboratory (HomeLab™) and robotic (ACTOR™ and AGENT™) X-ray crystallography solutions. Company operations will continue in Carlsbad, CA under the RoboDesign International name. Mr. Keith Crane will serve as President and COO. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Crane was Senior Vice President of Operations at Rigaku, Inc. in The Woodlands, TX, and brings over 18 years of experience within the Rigaku organization. He also spearheaded Rigaku/s very successful internal automation projects (ACTOR and AGENT) for the structural proteomics market. | |||||
| Featured conference: ACA 2005 | ||||||
Rigaku
invites you to visit us during the 2005
Annual ACA Meeting in Orlando May 28 - June 2. Our booth is #506 and
Osmic has booth #405. We will have the following equipment on display, and
our booth staff will be glad to talk to you about our entire product line:
Rigaku employees will be making the following presentations during the conference:
Rigaku will sponsoring the following events, open to the public:
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| PITTCON 2005 | ||||||
| Since becoming part of the Rigaku family last year, the EIT group in Tucson has been working hard on camera developments in a number of areas. The fruits of their labors will be ready for viewing at the upcoming ACA conference in Orlando and representatives from EIT will be on hand to show off their new "babies" and answer any questions related to CCD detectors. | This year's PITTCON for XRF was a great success compared to previous
years. The new ZSX Primus
II, tube-above optics, was premiered to the interest of many attendees. The
ZSX Mini-Z Sulfur Analyzer was also
presented once more and received more attention this year than last. The
ZSX Mini II rounded off the XRF instrumentation on display and itself
garnered a lot of attention. We found ourselves quite busy everyday giving demos, talking to walk-in attendees, and meeting up with old friends. The interests shown to the instruments this year seems to be a reflection of the economy recovering. More individuals had a serious review of our software and hardware asking to have follow-up calls or literature sent to them. With this as an indicator of the upcoming year, XRF predicts that we are going to be very, very busy. | |||||
| Subscriber Info | Attendees of the March/April 2005 macromolecular training session | |||||
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| North America: | Europe: | ||||
| 9009 New Trails Drive The Woodlands Texas USA 77381-5209 e-mail: info@rigaku.com Tel: (281) 363-1033 FAX: (281) 364-3628 | Unit B6, Chaucer Business Park Watery Lane, Kemsing Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 6QY, England e-mail: info@rigaku.com Tel: [44] 1732 763 367 FAX: [44] 1732 763 757 | |||||
