Small-angle scattering techniques are widely used in scientific communities to determine the shape, distribution, and uniformity of particles in solution. New developments and faster acquisition will also allow for tracking the dynamics of the particles themselves. Small-Angle X-ray or Neutron Scattering (SAXS or SANS, respectively) can be very effective tools for studying, for example, the time dependence of genome release from phages, investigating entire viral life cycles, or the assembly of macromolecular complexes, providing deep insights into infection pathways. Neutrons and X-rays can be applied in a complementary mode, as is the case for the joint SANS-SAXS proposal between the ESRF and the ILL.
This strategic plan aims to advance the field by providing an EOSC-based platform, enabling FAIR data and software, unified data processing pipelines featuring robust scaling algorithms for the two different sources, supporting reproducibility and automated validation, and integrating with other relevant structural databases (e.g., electron microscopy/tomography or protein structural and ligand databases).