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SOLARIS signed an agreement for the construction of a new beamline for structural studies

Photo courtesy of Adam Koprowski, Jagiellonian University Press Office.

On 29 June 2018 a cooperation agreement between the Jagiellonian University and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia, was signed. The agreement envisages the construction and operation of the Laboratory for Structural Research into Macromolecules and New Materials at the Polish CERIC Partner Facility in Krakow, the SOLARIS National Synchrotron Radiation Centre.

The Laboratory for Structural Research into Macromolecules and New Materials will be created at SOLARIS a response to the huge demand of the scientific community. The base of the laboratory will be a high energy beamline for structural basic and applied studies, such as:

  • comprehensive studies on crystalline structures of various materials, including biological samples (proteins, protein complexes, nucleic acids, etc.), biological macromolecules in solutions, nanoparticles suspensions, new nanomaterials (polymer systems, molecular sieves, nanocomposites, liquid crystals, etc.);
  • studies on crystal structure of functional materials under high pressure;
  • studies on structural phase transitions under high pressure;
  • studies on structure of unstructured objects (proteins, membrane and spherical proteins, macromolecular complexes, viruses and virus-like particles, biological membranes, nucleic acids and the their complexes with proteins and / or drug delivery systems).

The agreement was signed by the Rector of the Jagiellonian University Prof. Wojciech Nowak and the Director of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research Prof. Victor Matveev, as a result of negotiations and multi-stage arrangements with a foreign partner, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, which gathers nearly 1,000 scientists from Europe and Asia working in the field of high energy physics, nuclear physics and molecular physics.

The multi-million investment will cover the expansion of the SOLARIS Centre experimental hall. It will start as soon as all necessary permits are granted.