The application of these condensing and confining devices to Laue diffraction from proteins was tested in a collaboration with Steve Ealick. Using a 100 mm thick lysozyme crystal and a 5 mm diameter x-ray beam, very nice Laue photos were obtained in 10 second exposures. With the attribute of enhanced intensities, microbeams from single tapered glass capillaries may greatly boost our ability to determine three-dimensional protein crystal structures that are too small for the present technology. A new addition to our group, Dan Thiel who has just finished up his Ph. D. work at Cornell, has been instrumental in the making and profiling of pipettes, while Steve Hoffman has been heavily involved with the Laue diffraction and imaging experiments. The microscience group at Cornell is interested in new applications of microbeams to science.
Many biological experiments are also in the conceptual stage.
Additionally, we would like to attract visiting scientists to come and join us in these efforts for some period of time.