Oxford Diffraction Launch Platinum Level US Reference Site for Crystallography at Virginia Tech

The current “Gold Level Reference Site” at Virginia Tech will now be promoted to the top “Platinum Level”, with the installation of a third Xcalibur, the innovative new Xcalibur PX Ultra.

The current "Gold Level Reference Site" at Virginia Tech will now be promoted to the top "Platinum Level", with the installation of a third Xcalibur, the innovative new Xcalibur PX Ultra. This enhances the already high profile demonstration facility for US customers and will now represent all the major scientific disciplines that routinely use crystallography including Biology, Chemistry and Geology.

Richard Foster-Turner, Sales Director said "There are to be only three Oxford Diffraction Platinum Level References sites worldwide, and the selection of Virginia Tech as one of these is an important step for both partners. There has already been great success and tangible benefits from the current collaboration. The visibility of this new facility is expected to bring even greater scientific and commercial returns to both organisations."

The Xcalibur PX Ultra is the newest member of the Xcalibur family, and is designed for protein crystallography. This new variant features the new Enhance Ultra technology, providing rotating anode like flux from a sealed tube, with all the resulting advantages of high uptime and low total cost of ownership. Xcalibur PX Ultra also includes the new large area Onyx CCD detector, with high speed readout and high dynamic range.

Virginia Tech, located in Blacksburg, Virginia, USA, is the largest University in the State of Virginia with eight colleges and 25,600 students. Virginia Tech consistently ranks among the top 50 research universities in the United States. With more than 100 research centres, the university also consistently ranks among the top institutions in industry-supported research and near the top 10 in the number of patents issued each year.

The agreement between Oxford Diffraction Limited and Virginia Tech follows the purchase by Virginia Tech of an Xcalibur PX Ultra diffractometer. The new diffractometer will be co-located with the Xcalibur 1 and Xcalibur 2 diffractometers purchased previously, to augment the facilities of the new interdisciplinary crystallography lab within the College of Science at Virginia Tech ("VTX"). Together the three Xcalibur diffractometers allow experiments to be performed routinely to temperatures as low as 10 Kelvin and to pressures as high as 10 GPa (100,000 atmospheres) making VTX a unique facility that will serve not only Virginia Tech but other universities and colleges, as well as acting as a product showcase for Oxford Diffraction.

Oxford Diffraction Limited will provide VTX with comprehensive service and support for the Xcalibur instruments, and also direct sponsorship for staff and students. Faculty and students will also collaborate with Oxford Diffraction in the development of new techniques and technologies. Dr. Lay Nam Chang, Dean of the College of Science at Virginia Tech, said "The addition of X-ray diffraction technology for resolving three dimensional structures of proteins provides Virginia Tech with a key in-house capability that will foster collaborations across many departments and colleges, and strengthen existing programs in protein science and structural biology."