How to apply for macromolecular (protein) crystallography beamtime

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Proposal Process

There are a number of ways to apply for macromolecular crystallography (protein crystallography) beamtime at the Australian Synchrotron.

All proposals must be submitted via the online proposal system .

Proposals are accepted 3 times a year (except rapid access) - see key dates

Proposals are peer reviewed for scientific merit online proposal system by a specialist committee; the Program Advisory Committee (PAC). The technical feasibility of the proposal is also reviewed, as well as the track record of the Principal Investigator.

Proposals are then allocated time based on these reviews by the Program Allocation Committee (PAC) for each beamline PAC in consultation with the Beamline Manager.

Users are then notified by the User Office of the outcomes of these allocations.

Proposal types

Normal merit proposals: are intended for users who wish to apply for a single beamtime slot only. The proposal is only valid for consideration in the current round and if time in future rounds is required a new proposal needs to be submitted.

Program proposals: are intended for users whose research project will require beamtime on an ongoing basis over multiple rounds of beamtime allocations. Click here for more information on program proposals and program proposal beamtime requests.

Rapid access proposals: aim to give users with high profile, highly competitive projects access to beamtime on relatively short timescale. Rapid Access time may also be used in some instances to acquire additional beam time for already active proposals. Please click here for more information on how to apply for rapid access proposals.

Foundation Investor proposals: are to apply for preferred access time for applicants whose institutions are members of a foundation investor consortium. Please follow the instructions listed on the Foundation Investor page if you are from a member institution.

Access to the Rigaku Free Mounting System

The Australian Synchrotron also has on loan from the Bio21 Collaborative Crystallisation Centre a Rigaku Free Mounting System. For more detail on accessing this device, please click here.