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During the ALBA design phase, the protein macromolecular protein crystallography beamline, XALOC, required several in-house developments. The major part of these designs was at the end station where the necessity of customization is always much higher. The most relevant of these instruments was the beam conditioning elements table [1]. This accurate stage, which supports the diffractometer as well, includes the four movements required to align the components to the nominal beam as well as position the diffractometer. This design compacts, especially the vertical and pitch movements, both in a single stage, with a couple of stages for all four excursions. The solution maximise the stiffness and preserves at the same time the resolution close to 0.1��m while being able to withstand a half tone of payload. Thanks this compactness and performances this design concept, the vertical and pitch combined stage, was not only applied at XALOC for its diffractometer and detector table, but it has been widely adapted at several ALBA beamlines: at NCD-SWEET [2] as a detector table, a beam conditioning elements table [3] and sample table, at MSPD beamline as the KB table, at NOTOS beamline as metrology table, and also at the new ESA MINERVA beamline [4] for their sample mirror modules positioning. Beamlines have not been the only beneficiaries of this design, also different kind of instrumentation like an hall probe measuring bench [5], and even a stitching platform for the ALBA optics laboratory [6]. Moreover, the concept has outreach ALBA and has been adopted also at other facilities worldwide, synchrotrons and also scientific instrumentation suppliers around Europe. This poster presents most of the applications of the skin concept and their variations and main measured performances., Proceedings of the 11th Mechanical Engineering Design of Synchrotron Radiation Equipment and Instrumentation, MEDSI2020, Chicago, IL, USA

XAIRA, the hard X-ray microfocus beamline at ALBA, includes three monochromatic fluorescence screens and one water cooled white beam monitor in its layout, mounting respectively YAG:Ce and polycrystalline CVD diamond as scintillator screens. All monitors share the same design scheme, with a re-entrant viewport for the visualization system that allows reducing the working distance, as required for high magnification imaging. The scintillator screen assembly is held by the same CF63 flange, making the whole system very compact and stable. The re-entrant flange is driven by a stepper motor actuated linear stage that positions or retracts the screen with respect to the beam path. To cope with high power density (18, 6 W/m2) on the white beam monitor 100 ��m-thick diamond screen, an InGa-based cooling system has been developed. The general design of the new fluorescence screens, to be used also in other ALBA���s upcoming beamlines, with particular detail on the water-cooled white beam monitor, is described here., Proceedings of the 11th Mechanical Engineering Design of Synchrotron Radiation Equipment and Instrumentation, MEDSI2020, Chicago, IL, USA

Journal of synchrotron radiation 26(2), 393 - 405 (2019). doi:10.1107/S1600577519001267, MXCuBE2 is the second-generation evolution of the MXCuBE beamline control software, initially developed and used at ESRF – the European Synchrotron. MXCuBE2 extends, in an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI), the functionalities and data collection methods available to users while keeping all previously available features and allowing for the straightforward incorporation of ongoing and future developments. MXCuBE2 introduces an extended abstraction layer that allows easy interfacing of any kind of macromolecular crystallography (MX) hardware component, whether this is a diffractometer, sample changer, detector or optical element. MXCuBE2 also works in strong synergy with the ISPyB Laboratory Information Management System, accessing the list of samples available for a particular experimental session and associating, either from instructions contained in ISPyB or from user input via the MXCuBE2 GUI, different data collection types to them. The development of MXCuBE2 forms the core of a fruitful collaboration which brings together several European synchrotrons and a software development factory and, as such, defines a new paradigm for the development of beamline control platforms for the European MX user community., Published by Wiley-Blackwell, [S.l.]

We present a compact mirror bender with dynamic surface correction. The system is the evolution of an in-house development and will be the default focusing system for the new ALBA beamlines. The bender is now more compact and can introduce stronger curvatures, as required for microfocus applications. It allows for in-situ correction of the mirror surface, with resolution and stability below one nanometer. The bender can compensate parasitic deformations caused by thermal bumps, changes of focus, or stresses appeared during installation or bakeout. The system includes two torque actuators at the ends of the mirror as well as a number of correctors along the mirror length, capable of introducing high order surface corrections. The bending curvature is actively stabilized, by a feedback loop that controls the applied force, to the equivalent of 0.25 nm rms in a 500 mm long mirror. The figure correctors provide up to 20N push-pull force with resolution below .001 N. They combine elastic and magnetic forces to improve their stability., Proceedings of the Mechanical Eng.~Design of Synchrotron Radiation Equipment and Instrumentation, MEDSI2018, Paris, France

12 p.-7 fig.-2 tab., Catalases are among the main scavengers of reactive oxygen species (ROS) present in the peroxisome, thereby preventing oxidative cellular and tissular damage. In human, multiple diseases are associated with malfunction of these organelles, which causes accumulation of ROS species and consequently the inefficient detoxification of cells. Despite intense research, much remains to be clarified about the precise molecular role of catalase in cellular homeostasis. Yeast peroxisomes and their peroxisomal catalases have been used as eukaryotic models for oxidative metabolism, ROS generation and detoxification, and associated pathologies. In order to provide reliable models for oxidative metabolism research, we have determined the high-resolution crystal structures of peroxisomal catalase from two important biotechnology and basic biology yeast models, Pichia pastoris and Kluyveromyces lactis. We have performed an extensive functional, biochemical and stability characterization of both enzymes in order to establish their differential activity profiles. Furthermore, we have analyzed the role of the peroxisomal catalase under study in the survival of yeast to oxidative burst challenges combining methanol, water peroxide, and sodium chloride. Interestingly, whereas catalase activity was induced 200-fold upon challenging the methylotrophic P. pastoris cells with methanol, the increase in catalase activity in the non-methylotrophic K. lactis was only moderate. The inhibitory effect of sodium azide and β-mercaptoethanol over both catalases was analyzed, establishing IC50 values for both compounds that are consistent with an elevated resistance of both enzymes toward these inhibitors. Structural comparison of these two novel catalase structures allows us to rationalize the differential susceptibility to inhibitors and oxidative bursts. The inherent worth and validity of the P. pastoris and K. lactis yeast models for oxidative damage will be strengthened by the availability of reliable structural-functional information on these enzymes, which are central to our understanding of peroxisomal response toward oxidative stress., Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (CTQ2015-66206-C2-2-R, SAF2015-72961-EXP, RTI2018-102242-B-I00), Regional Government of Madrid (S2017/BMD-3673), and CSIC (PIE 20160E064) to M.C.V. All grants were co-funded with European Union ERDF funds (European Regional Development Fund).

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) assembled from multiple building blocks exhibit greater chemical complexity and superior functionality in practical applications. Herein, we report a new approach based on using prefabricated cavities to design isoreticular multicomponent MOFs from a known parent MOF. We demonstrate this concept with the formation of multicomponent HKUST-1 analogues, using a prefabricated cavity that comprises a cuboctahedral Rh(II) metal-organic polyhedron functionalized with 24 carboxylic acid groups. The cavities are reticulated in three dimensions via Cu(II)-paddlewheel clusters and (functionalized) 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate linkers to form three- and four-component HKUST-1 analogues., This work was supported by the Spanish MINECO (project RTI2018-095622-B-I00), the Catalan AGAUR (project 2017 SGR 238), the CERCA Program/Generalitat de Catalunya, and the MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union “NextGenerationEU”/PRTR (EUR2020-112294). We also thank CESGA Supercomputing center for technical support and computer time at the supercomputer Finisterrae III. ICN2 and ICMAB are supported by the Severo Ochoa program from the Spanish MINECO (grants SEV-2017-0706 and CEX2019-000917-S). The project that gave rise to these results received the support of a fellowship (LCF/BQ/PR20/11770011) from “la Caixa” Foundation (ID 100010434). A.E.P.-P. acknowledges a Ramón y Cajal fellowship (RYC2018-024328-I). With funding from the Spanish government through the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000917-S).