Beamline Attributes
| Maximum resolution | 0.66 Å @ 24.0 keV 0.93 Å @ 17.0 keV 1.3 Å @ 12.7 keV 2.7 Å @ 6.0 keV |
| Typical exposure time | 2 ms / frame (rotation method) |
New features at BioMAX
- All the data processing pipelines are running the XDS build 20250409
- The Ivanti VPN service will stop before April 12th due to security issues.The new VPN service is called “pritunl” . See documentation at https://www.maxiv.lu.se/beamlines-accelerators/controls-it/it-services/connect-via-vpn/
- Some of the old OTP tokens for remote access set up in 2023 have a one year expiration time. If the token has expired you will get an error when trying to connect to MAX IV: “Bad username or password. Please reenter information from your token card“. If you get such a message and are sure you entered the correct OTP, please follow the instructions to set up a one time password application. We recommend testing that the OTP generator is set up properly before remote beamtime by connecting to the offline HPC cluster. See Remote Experiments at BioMAX.
- Recommended values for data collection in MXCuBE :
- Energy: 17 keV.
- Exposure time for rotation data collection: 2 ms (with 0.1 degree rotation per frame) . For mesh scans and characterization shots use 10 ms or longer.
- Note on manually processing Eiger2 XE CdTe 16M data: Beware that XDS based pipelines (except autoPROC v. 2024123 or newer) incorrectly treat the CdTe sensor as silicon by default. You need to replace or add the SILICON keyword in your XDS.INP file with the value present in the MAX IV XDS.INP generated by the autoprocessing; this file can be found in the biomax data disk under ‘proposal’/’date’/process/’protein’/’sampleid’/xds_sampleid’. You can use the same value for different data sets as long as the X-ray wavelength is the same.
Getting beamtime at BioMAX
The first step to gain access to BioMAX is to submit a proposal for beamtime. Standard and BAG proposals can be submitted during the call for proposals period. Fast Access proposals are accepted at any time. For proprietary proposals for industry, please contact the Industrial Relations Office. For Training and Education, please contact beamline staff. See also MAX IV access modes.
Preparing for beamtime
The MX groups holds periodical user training workshops. New users are encouraged to apply for one of these training sessions in advance of their first beamtime. The workshops are announced some weeks in advance to the MX users list. To subscribe to this list, connect to the MAX IV network and visit the page https://lists.maxiv.lu.se/mailman/listinfo/mx-usercall.
- Once the user office has notified you about approval of your proposal, BioMAX staff will contact you about suitable times to schedule your beamtime. Most experiments can use a doodle poll to select beamtime dates, but some experiments require contacting beamline staff (e.g. in-situ screening). Proprietary beamtime is arranged through the Industry Office. Please read more about the applicable policies here.
- Before your experiment please use the DUO interface to apply for an access card (unless you plan a remote experiment) and complete the safety quiz. You also use DUO to define an experiment session and declare the shifts it will comprise, the number of participants in the experiments and the samples used. Samples need to be declared two weeks in advance, except non-hazardous samples, which can be declared up to three days before the experiment. In addition, creating the experimental session is required for obtaining remote access to data collection.
- Prepare the samples. The sample exchanger at MAX IV supports SPINE mounts of standard length (cap + pin + loop = 22 mm) mounted in Universal Pucks (UniPucks) only. It is critical that the samples are the correct length, as longer samples can cause the sample changer to collide with the diffractometer. There are UniPucks available at the beamline in case you do not have any. Please contact staff if you need to borrow the UniPucks. The sample transfer can be done onsite.
- If you need to do extensive sample preparation on-site (beyond cryo-cooling or quick soaks) you will need to arrange in advance training to use the Biological lab.
- After a session has been created in DUO, use EXI (EXtended IsPyB) to prepare a sample list. This step is compulsory for automated sample mounting with the sample exchanger, even if you are planning to transport the dewar yourself. If you ship the samples, please enclose the labels generated by EXI, together with the waybill for the return shipment and, if relevant, the customs declaration.
Carrying out the experiment
The usual starting time for morning experiments is 09:00 (CET), 13:00 for afternoon experiments, and between 17:00 and 17:30 for evening experiments. The experiment starting times differ from the official DUO shifts to allow staff to conduct a thorough daily beamline preparation and sample loading between 8:00 and 9:00. Staff will let you know in advance if the starting time changes for some reason.
MXCuBE3 is the standard software to collect data at BioMAX. As soon as the data are collected, the software launches several different pipelines to process the data. The results can be accessed any time via EXI. We also provide computing facilities for manual reprocessing of the data. Please remember to acknowledge in your publications any tools used at BioMAX to collect and process the data.
All academic users can use all the software installed on MAX IV computers to process data. However, we may not have appropriate licences for industrial users. If in doubt, please consult with staff.
Data transfer
Currently, users belonging to an institution with a valid license can use Globus for data transfer. We also provide an sftp server for remote data transfer. To prevent malware infections, we do not allow the use of external disks.
After the experiment
Please use the DUO interface to provide feedback about your experiment and report any publications arising from it. Submission of an experimental report is very important for renewal of proposals. Do not forget to acknowledge MAX IV and other instruments and software used during the experiment. Raw data sets archived at MAX IV can be referenced via a unique identifier number. Log in to SciCat to locate the PID assigned to your data. Once the proposal PI makes the data public, everyone will be able to download the data.