Advanced Light Source
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
The Advanced Light Source (ALS) is a DOE scientific user facility at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory sponsored by the Basic Energy Sciences Program. ALS is a specialized particle accelerator that generates bright beams of X-ray light for scientific research. Electron bunches travel at nearly the speed of light in a circular path, emitting ultraviolet and X-ray light in the process. The light is directed through about 40 beamlines to numerous experimental end stations, where scientists from around the world (“users”) can conduct research in a wide variety of fields, including materials science, biology, chemistry, physics, and the environmental sciences.
BER Resources at ALS
- Berkeley Synchrotron Infrared Structural Biology (BSISB): Fourier-transform infrared spectromicroscopy
- National Center for X-Ray Tomography (NCXT): soft X-ray tomography
- Structurally Integrated Biology for the Life Sciences (SIBYLS): X-ray macromolecular crystallography; solution X-ray scattering (small-angle X-ray scattering; SAXS)
Other ALS Capabilities
ALS is home to several X-ray macromolecular crystallography (MX) beamlines. This technique can be used to visualize molecules at atomic resolution, enabling protein engineering, the design of therapeutics, and the fundamental understanding of enzyme mechanisms and protein function.
- Berkeley Center for Structural Biology: X-ray macromolecular crystallography on beamlines (5.0.1, 5.0.2, 5.0.3, 8.2.1 and 8.2.2) for industrial and academic users.
- Molecular Biology Consortium: X-ray macromolecular crystallography on beamline 4.2.2 for academic users.
- University of California Beamline: X-ray macromolecular crystallography on beamline 8.3.1 for researchers on its campuses. The beamlines provide robotic systems for crystal handling and remote access for data collection.