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Phaser is a program for phasing macromolecular crystal structures with maximum likelihood methods. It has been developed by Randy Read's group at the University of Cambridge and will be available through the Phenix and CCP4 software suites, and directly from this site.

If you solve a structure with Phaser please cite: J. Appl. Cryst. (2007). 40, 658-674. Phaser crystallographic software. A. J. McCoy, R. W. Grosse-Kunstleve, P. D. Adams, M. D. Winn, L.C. Storoni and R.J. Read.

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News

14.1.2008 Phaser-2.1.2 released from this website. Also released with phenix-1.3b.

New features in Phaser-2.1.2

  • Patch to fix segmentation fault in non-linux executables
3.12.2007 The Phaser-2.1.1 module is now available through the CCP4 automated Downloads page and from the Daresbury ftp server. The module can be taken as a module of a fresh CCP4 6.0.2 installation, or it can be added to an existing 6.0.2 installation. In particular, the automated script install.sh will check for an existing CCP4 installation, and give you the option of installing Phaser there. On windows platform you are provided with a Cumulative-update-3.exe file that should apply the update and known fixes; this can be installed on a fresh ccp4 installation as well as on a ccp4 installation on which you performed earlier updates.
In ccp4i, there is an updated phaser_MR task, as well as a new phaser_EP task. If you updating an existing CCP4 installation, then the ccp4i interface should be updated automatically.

12.11.2007 Phaser-2.1.1 released from this website. Also released with phenix-1.3b. Will be released with CCP4-6.1.

New features in Phaser-2.1.1

  • Default packing criteria relaxed to allow a small number of clashes
  • Default packing distance increased to identify intercalation of helices
  • Composition can be estimated from solvent content
  • Default composition corresponds to 50% solvent
  • If automated MR search finds some, but not all, components, the partial solution is output
  • Improved SAD phasing
  • SAD phasing starting from MR partial model
  • Output of PDB hybrid-36 atom numbers and col(21-22) chainids for largest structures
For a complete list of changes please refer to the documentation for Phaser-2.1. Please note that keyword input has changed since earlier versions

As always we are extremely interested in your feedback. Please send any comments, corrections, bugfixes or requests to cimr-phaser@lists.cam.ac.uk.

1.11.2006 Phaser-1.3.3 was released with ccp4 6.0.2. Incremental change to Phaser-1.3.2.

New features in Phaser-1.3.3

  • Filename parsing accepts quoted strings, for Windows filenames that include spaces. Change synchronised with corresponding changes throughout the rest of the CCP4 suite.
1.07.2006 Phaser-2.0 was released with phenix-1.24 beta. This version will not be released from this website.

New features in Phaser-2.0

  • First release of SAD phasing
1.02.2006 Phaser-1.3.2 was released with ccp4 6.0.0.

New features in Phaser-1.3.2

  • Bugfixed version of Phaser-1.3.1
1.07.2005 Phaser-1.3.1 has been released officially. You can download the new release with your old password from here. If you downloaded Phaser-1.3.1 before today, you have an unofficial release, which should be replaced.

New features in Phaser-1.3.1

  • Minor bug fixes after Phenix-1.1a release
  • R-factor reported by MR_RNP and MR_LLG modes (verbose output)

New features in Phaser-1.3

  • Release with Phenix-1.1a
  • New Normal Mode Analysis of structures
  • New Cell Content Analysis Mode
  • Improved Automated MR
  • Map coefficients appended to input mtz file
  • Score stored in .sol file is Z-score rather than LLG
  • Final phasing and refinement to full resolution on mtz file
  • Packing of RNA/DNA
  • Packing to form close packed oligomeric complexes
  • Waters in pdb files excluded from packing
  • Only the most similar model in an ensemble is used for packing analysis
  • Reduced memory requirements
  • Composition/MW determined from sequence
  • Automated MR now available as a python script
  • Bug fixes for Phaser–1.2
For a complete list of changes please refer to the documentation for Phaser-1.3. Please note that keyword input has changed since Version 1.2. Your old scripts will not work with Version 1.3!

As always we are extremely interested in your feedback. Please send any comments, corrections, bugfixes or requests to cimr-phaser@lists.cam.ac.uk.

02.06.2005 Phaser version 1.2 unexpectedly expired yesterday, because of a typo in the expiry date in the source code. A message explaining what happened and possible ways to work around it has been sent to all registered Phaser users. We apologise for the inconvenience, and we are working hard to get version 1.3 (which will not have an expiry date!) released as soon as possible.
15.12.2004 Congratulations to Richard Bunker, who registered as our 1000th user!
08.07.2004 We have updated the FAQ and added a section on known bugs.
06.07.2004 We are pleased to announce that Phaser now has over 500 registered users.
30.06.2004 The README files for the installer, CCP4I GUI installation and the CCP4-4.2 extras have been clarified. Thanks for your feedback!
25.06.2004 A bug causing a core dump under OSF1 was reported almost immediately. It has been fixed, and people who downloaded the executable have been notified by e-mail. If you downloaded the installer to use under OSF1 in the first few hours of the release, please download the latest version.
25.06.2004 Phaser-1.2 has been released. This is the first "official" release of Phaser software. You can download the new release with your old password from here.

New features in Phaser-1.2

  • Automated solution of structures
  • New Likelihood Enhanced fast Translation Function (LETF)
  • Ability to use electron density maps as molecular replacement models
  • Rigid body solution refinement against maximum likelihood target
  • Pruning of duplicate solutions from solution list
  • Searching of multiple alternative space groups
  • Searching of multiple alternative models
  • Better minimizers
For a complete list of changes please refer to the documentation for Phaser-1.2. Please note that keyword input has changed considerably since Version 1.1. Your old scripts will not work with Version 1.2!

As always we are extremely interested in your feedback. Please send any comments, corrections, bugfixes or requests to cimr-phaser@lists.cam.ac.uk.

15.01.2004 New users might have experienced some problems while trying to register during the last week. There had been a problem with our server which is now fixed. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.
22.12.2003 Your current version of Phaser will stop working on the 1st of January 2004. We have therefore released a new version cambridge-alpha-1.1a that will work for another six months. This version is identical in all other areas to 1.1. We are currently working on a new and improved version (1.2) that will be released soon.

04.11.2003 Documentation for phaser cambridge-alpha-1-1 online
26.09.2003 Phaser version cambridge-alpha-1-1 has been released, which fixes a bug in the anisotropy correction.

As always, we would be pleased to receive any feedback or bug reports!
06.09.2003 Phaser version cambridge-alpha-1-0 is now available for Download!
03.09.2003 The webpages have been updated with extra material like online tutorials. And we got a new logo.
26.08.2003 We are experiencing some problems with our download form. Please try again in a few days.
19.08.2003 Download section updated. We are currently building a distributable executable of Phaser which will be available for download in the near future.
28.07.2003 Phaser webpage updated. Any questions about Phaser should now be sent to cimr-phaser@lists.cam.ac.uk.
14.04.2003 Phaser webpage launched!






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