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James Pflugrath
Rigaku Americas CorporationDepartment:Address: 9009 New Trails Drive The Woodlands, TX 77381 Phone: 281-362-2300 Fax: 281-364-3628 Email: jim.pflugrath@rigaku.com Web: |
Education
B.A. Biochemistry, Rice (1979)
Ph.D. Biochemistry, Rice (1984)
Max-Plank-Institut fuer Biochemie 1984-1986
Honors
NSF Pre-doctoral Fellowship, Rice University
W.M. Keck Chair in Structural Biology, CSHL
Research Topic
New methods of macromolecular crystal data collection and structure determination
Research Description
New methods of macromolecular crystal data collection and structure determination
Our research, conducted in an industrial setting, is concentrated on the advancement of X-ray diffraction technology so that the phase problem can be easily solved and new structures readily determined. To this end, we work in 4 main areas: data collection and processing software, X-ray sources, X-ray detectors, and robotic sample handling. The d*TREK package has been developed as a universal diffraction image processing package. It serves as a platform to test new and automated methods of indexing, integration, absorption correction and scaling. We also test new X-ray sources and detectors before their introduction to the market. For example, we are working with softer X-rays from a chromium anode source in an effort to better measure the anomalous scattering signals from the sulfur atoms found in macromolecules. We have shown that the small differences in |F+| and |F-| arising from the weak anomalous scattering of calcium and sulfur atoms are sufficient to phase entire diffraction data sets. Finally, as data collection software and hardware improves, we need more automated methods for crystal and sample manipulation. We are continuing to develop a robot that transfers crystals from a dewar of liquid nitrogen into a cryogenic nitrogen gas stream, automatically aligns and screens the crystals, collects diffraction images, then processes them. Such a system fully automates the diffraction experiment and increases throughput in the age of structural genomics.
All of our research and development is immediately applied in our laboratory where we solve X-ray crystal structures for a variety of biotechnology clients.
Selected Publications
- Yang, C., Pflugrath, J.W., Camper, D.L., Foster, M.L., Pernich, D.J., and Walsh, T.A. (2004) Structural basis for herbicidal inhibitor selectivity revealed by comparison of crystal structures of plant and mammalian 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxgenases. Biochemistry 43, 10414-10423.
- Yang, C., Pflugrath, J.W., Courville, D.A., Stence, C.N. and Ferrara, J.D. (2003). Away from the edge: SAD phasing from the sulfur anomalous signal measured in-house with chromium radiation. Acta. Cryst. D59: 1943-1957.
- Yang, C. and Pflugrath, J.W. (2001). Applications of anomalous scattering from S atoms for improved phasing of protein diffraction data collected at CuKa wavelength. Acta Cryst. D57: 1480-1490.
- Pflugrath, J.W. (1999). The finer things in X-ray diffraction data collection. Acta Cryst. D55: 1718-1725.
- Pflugrath, J.W. (1997). Diffraction-Data Processing for Electronic Detectors: Theory and Practice. Eds., Cater, C.W., Jr. and Sweet, R.M. Methods Enzymol. 276: pp. 286-306.
Lab Members
Lab Photos
Last edited on: May 14, 2007