Imagine an instrument that collects thousands of diffraction data points in days instead of months with the help of a cylindrical image plate detector and an intense polychromatic neutron beam. IMAGINE is the newest single crystal diffractometer being installed at the High Flux Isotope Reactor, and it will enable scientists to pinpoint individual hydrogen atoms in proteins that are important in bioenergy and biomedical research. This knowledge will help researchers like Flora Meilleur, lead scientist on IMAGINE and North Carolina State University/ORNL joint faculty member, understand how proteins involved in diseases like cancer or Alzheimer's are regulated in the body and how drugs can be designed to control them. IMAGINE commissioning should begin in early 2012.
