Determination of some features of apoferritin using small angle neutron scattering The whole list of the participants: 1. Marek Rataj JINR group where the project has been carried out: Small - Angle Neutron Scattering Group (Part of FLNP)

A few words about the participants We all come from Poznan. We are the students of physics at Adam Mickiewicz University. We like peace and stillness. Our interests are: fundamentals of quantum mechanics, mathematical physics. We are probably going to specialize in condensed matter physics.

What is SANS? It is an experimental technique of investigating structures from 10Å to 1000Å (proteins, polymers, membranes, alloys, porous materials) It focuses on detecting neutrons close to the incident beam    It gives the possibility to study solutions, disordered structures and interactions between molecules (electrostatic, short range). We can determine shape, size, volume, internal structure, fluctuation of density of samples, scattering density, molecular weight.

Equipment – YuMO spectrometer (Yurii M. Ostanevich) 13

Scattering intensity We can fit the analytical formula to the data in order to obtain parameters of the shape of the molecule and intensity at Q=0. We do this only when the formula for our shape exists. For example a shell:

Guinier approximation The are three different types of approximation associated with a particular shape: globular shape, rod-like shape, disc-like shape. By checking which one of these fits the best to the data, we can estimate the shape of our molecule and determine the radius of gyration and I(0). The plot prepared with Primus program (Lab of D. Svergun, EMBL, Hamburg)

Distance distribution function The analysis of this function helps to find structural details about the molecule. For example this plot tells us that our molecule is not a bowl but a shell. The plot prepared with Gnom program (Lab of D. Svergun, EMBL, Hamburg)

Acknowledgements I really appreciate the way in which the SANS group organized my practice. I am especially grateful to: Муругова Татьяна Ковалев Юрий Куклин Александр

More acknowledgements Time spent in Dubna gave me the opportunity to learn a lot of new things and to get to know more details about JINR Institute. I would like to thank: R. Zawodny W. Chmielowski D. V. Fursaev All the people who helped them in organizing our summer practice