During the past three to four decades, synchrotron radiation has had a revolutionary impact on fields of science and technology extending from material science to biomedical imaging. The most dramatic examples of this impact come from the detailed three-dimensional studies of protein structure using powerful crystallographic techniques such as multiple-wavelength anomalous dispersion (MAD). The rapid development of these studies, stimulated by the Protein Structure Initiative, sponsored by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of the National Institute of Health (NIH), has propelled life science researchers to the forefront of a large and growing user community at our nation's complement of synchrotron light sources. To address this growing demand, public and private initiatives have concentrated on High-Throughput Protein Crystallography. So far, these efforts have focused on streamlining operation at a relatively small number of X-ray beam lines at national facilities. Recent developments at Lyncean Technologies have led to a new, compact device for X-ray generation that is well matched to the size of the protein crystallographer's home laboratory. This device not only holds the promise of having a major impact on protein structure determination, but may have a major impact in many other fields of X-ray science as well.

The Compact Light Source (CLS) is a breakthrough technology that offers the possibility of a "synchrotron beamline" for home laboratory applications. This tunable, tabletop X-ray source can be used in much the same way as a typical X-ray beamline at a large facility; but it is small enough to bring state-of-the-art methods of macromolecular crystallography directly into an experimenter's local laboratory.

The Compact Light Source

The Compact Light Source builds on U.S. investment in large synchrotrons, but with a new idea that allows the source to be very compact. Existing synchrotron light sources employ multi-GeV electron beams that are stored in large rings of magnets to generate intense, bright, 1 Å wavelength radiation. The CLS employs the marriage of an electron beam and laser beam to accomplish the same effect. The shift from periodic magnets used in a typical synchrotron light source, to the laser beam used in the CLS, allows a reduction of energy and scale by a factor 200. The Compact Light Source is so small that it easily fits within a small room and its electron storage ring fits within the footprint of a large desk.

The Compact Light Source, as a next-generation X-ray source, directly addresses the increasing demand for high-throughput protein crystallography. Structural biologists can gain a new level of productivity by having local, on-demand access of synchrotron light. However, the CLS also offers access to high-quality X-ray beams to a broader group of scientists across many disciplines. Perhaps the most exciting new applications of the CLS are in health care. New biological imaging techniques that provide exquisitely detailed images of soft tissue are being developed at synchrotron facilities today. The CLS matches key aspects of the X-ray quality of these beamlines, but at cost and scale that makes clinical applications of these powerful techniques practical. We believe that the Compact Light Source will ultimately improve our nation's health and impact millions of individual lives through better understanding of disease, more effective drug development, and by enabling clinical applications of emerging new techniques for biological imaging.