Modelling heating effects in cryocooled protein crystals

With the application of intense X-ray beams from third generation synchrotron sources, damage to cryocooled macromolecular crystals is being observed more commonly [1]. In order to fully utilize synchrotron facilities now available for studying biological crystals, it is essential to understand the processes involved in radiation damage and beam heating so that, if possible, action can be taken to slow the rate of damage. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) has been applied to model the heating effects of X-rays on cryocooled protein crystals, and to compare the relative cooling efficiencies of nitrogen and helium.