Speakers
Description
MAX IV Laboratory hosts two beamlines for macromolecular crystallography (MX), BioMAX and MicroMAX, which together with the FragMAX platform provide integrated support for a broad range of structural biology applications, from routine diffraction experiments to time-resolved studies and early-stage drug discovery.
BioMAX was the first operational beamline at MAX IV Laboratory and is a versatile MX instrument offering tunable energy and variable beam sizes for a wide range of crystallographic applications. Equipped for highly automated high-throughput experiments, it is closely integrated with FragMAX, a platform for crystallographic fragment and ligand screening. FragMAX combines high-throughput crystal preparation, fragment libraries, automated data collection at BioMAX, and data-processing pipelines, supporting both academic and industrial users in structure-guided drug discovery and chemical biology.
MicroMAX expands the possibilities of macromolecular crystallography by combining a highly focused X-ray beam with advanced experimental methods for serial crystallography and time-resolved studies. The beamline supports a wide range of sample-delivery systems and sample environments, including light triggering and mixing for time-resolved experiments. Equipped with an X-ray chopper and a Jungfrau integrating detector, MicroMAX enables measurements on sub-100 microsecond timescales. More recently, its capabilities have been extended to include ptychographic imaging of biological samples under cryogenic conditions.
In this talk, we will present the current capabilities and design principles of the MX infrastructure at MAX IV, discuss ongoing developments and experimental opportunities, and outline future challenges and strategic priorities.
References
[1] Ursby, T. et al. BioMAX – the first macromolecular crystallography beamline at MAX IV Laboratory. J Synchrotron Rad 27, (2020).
[2] Gonzalez, A. et al. Status and perspective of protein crystallography at the first multi-bend achromat based synchrotron MAX IV. J Synchrotron Rad 32, 779–791 (2025).
[3] Kanchugal P., S. et al. FragMAX Facility for Crystallographic Fragment and Ligand Screening at MAX IV. Applied Research 4, e202400263 (2025).
