Data collection for dilute protein solutions via a neutron backscattering spectrometer

Tominaga, Taiki*; Nakagawa, Hiroshi   ; Sahara, Masae*; Oda, Takashi*; Inoue, Rintaro*; Sugiyama, Masaaki*

The background scattering of sample cells suitable for aqueous protein solution samples, conducted with a neutron backscattering spectrometer, was evaluated. It was found that the scattering intensity of an aluminum sample cell coated with boehmite using DO was lower than that of a sample cell coated with regular water (HO). In addition, meticulous attention to cells with small individual weight differences and the positional reproducibility of the sample cell relative to the spectrometer neutron beam position enabled the accurate subtraction of the scattering profiles of the DO buffer and the sample container. Consequently, high quality information on protein dynamics could be extracted from dilute protein solutions.