What is your job at ALBA?

I am a beamline scientist and the responsible of XALOC beamline. The beamline is devoted to macromolecular crystallography. We receive a lot of users, as our beamline is one of the most automatic beamlines at ALBA. Our work is to ensure that the beamline works perfectly and users can profit the awarded shifts as much as possible.

How are experiments at XALOC?

Macromolecular crystallography offers structural information of the proteins present in living organisms. If we know how proteins are, we can design new medicines addressed to solve specific health problems. For example, if we know how proteins of a certain virus work, we can design new medicines to stop the virus evolution.

Most of the experiments are quite standard, as structural biology is a very active field. But, in some other cases, we need to get more involved and participate in the experiments. Now, we are developing serial crystallography at ALBA. While standard crystallography enables you to get the protein structure in a static position, serial crystallography permits to have proteins in a more natural state (at ambient temperature and in different states).

What do you enjoy the most about your job at ALBA?

What I enjoy the most is to improve the beamline performance, optimising the automation of the beamline components and develop new software for enabling users to work faster and in a more comfortable way.

I also like keeping involved in research projects. We have two in-house projects. One related to plant proteins to discover how plants evolve from one or few cells to a big bush. The other one is about antibiotic resistance. We are trying to understand the mechanism behind why some bacteria learn how to react against antibiotic and neutralize their effect, making them ineffective.

What was your perception of ALBA before working for it?

I started my career in my country, The Netherlands, where I studied Chemistry in Utrecht. After that, I moved to Portugal and then I ended up as a scientist at the IBMB-CSIC, where I was an ALBA user. I used to come here to measure my samples. In fact, I was the first user of XALOC in June 2012. But it’s really interesting to see how ALBA works from the other side.

I’ve always been attracted to the type of job that needs to be done in a beamline: programming and interacting with the technical needs of the beamline. Here I can combine both areas: scientific research and developing technical instruments.

Do you collaborate with other research institutions?

We have ongoing collaboration at different levels. In particular, in controls software development (MXCuBE and ISPyB). We try to automate as much as possible the data acquisition process.  We collaborate with other European synchrotron facilities. Regarding the research projects, we do collaborate with other teams like the IRB Barcelona or groups from The Netherlands.

Which are your hobbies?

I love to play the piano and I used to ride my bicycle. I’m also a big fan of DIY and try to fix things at home. And I also enjoy the company of good friends, for example for dinner.