University of California

William F Kolbe

Raymond C Stevens

Earl Cornell

Robert A Nordmeyer

Derek T Yegian

Bernard D Santarsiero

Joseph M Jaklevic

Gyorgy Snell

Carl W Cork

Thomas N Earnest

Jian Jin

Peter G Shultz

Arthur L Jones

Joseph M Jaklevich

Donald C Uber

A method and apparatus for the transportation, remote and unattended mounting, and visual alignment and monitoring of protein crystals for synchrotron generated x-ray diffraction analysis. The protein samples are maintained at liquid nitrogen temperatures at all times: during shipment, before mounting, mounting, alignment, data acquisition and following removal. The samples must additionally be stably aligned to within a few microns at a point in space. The ability to accurately perform these tasks remotely and automatically leads to a significant increase in sample throughput and reliability for high-volume protein characterization efforts. Since the protein samples are placed in a shipping-compatible layered stack of sample cassettes each holding many samples, a large number of samples can be shipped in a single cryogenic shipping container.

Integrated crystal mounting and alignment system for high-throughput biological crystallography

A method is provided for performing array microcrystallizations to determine suitable crystallization conditions for a molecule. The method comprises forming an array of microcrystallizations, each microcrystallization comprising a drop containing a molecule to be crystallized, the drop having a volume of less than 1 &mgr;L; storing the array of microcrystallizations under conditions suitable for molecule crystals to form in the drops in the array; and detecting molecule crystal formation in the drops.

Methods and apparatus for performing array microcrystallizations

Growing community of inventors

Moraga, CA, United States of America

William F Kolbe