Automating crystal harvesting and mounting for high-throughput macromolecular crystallography

Chen, Weidong; Peddi, A.; Zheng, Yuan F.; Caffrey, Martin

doi:10.1109/wcica.2004.1342401

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The field of HTPX/ SG is constantly in search of new and improved methods for protein crystal growth. This has led to the development of innovative devices based on microfluidics (Hansen & Quake, 2003), including chips (Kisselman et al, 2011), plugs (Gerdts et al, 2008(Gerdts et al, , 2010 and lipidic cubic phase (LCP; Weidong et al, 2004). Harvesting of crystals from such devices and media can often be challenging when performed manually with conventional microloops and tools.…”

Section: Impact Of Htpx/sgmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Automated Crystal Harvester (ACH). The ACH is a microcapillary-based protein crystal-harvesting system designed at The Ohio State University as part of a platform for automating membrane-protein crystallization (Muthusubramaniam et al, 2004;Weidong et al, 2004 ; Fig. 3d).…”

Section: Iycr Crystallization Seriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ACH system was also the first to move away from standard microloop-based harvesting procedures in favor of a 'capillary-loop coordinating mechanism'. Using this system, the crystal is first harvested using a microcapillary and then transferred to a traditional microloop for flash-cooling and X-ray data collection (Weidong et al, 2004;Fig. 4b).…”

Section: Iycr Crystallization Seriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The system is capable of streak-seeding $6.5 wells per minute and produced results comparable to manual streak-seeding protocols (Georgiev et al, 2006). The system was further developed to enable semi-automated protein crystal harvesting by mounting a glass micropipette on the micromanipulator end-effector (Georgiev & Allen, 2008) in a fashion similar to the ACH device (Weidong et al, 2004;see x2.2.4). The glass micropipette is actuated using a CellTram Vario micro-injector (Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany) controlled by a stepper motor.…”

Section: Columbia Automated Robotic Environment For Streakmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Approaches to automated protein crystal harvesting

Deller

Rupp

2014

Acta Cryst Sect F

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The harvesting of protein crystals is almost always a necessary step in the determination of a protein structure using X-ray crystallographic techniques. However, protein crystals are usually fragile and susceptible to damage during the harvesting process. For this reason, protein crystal harvesting is the single step that remains entirely dependent on skilled human intervention. Automation has been implemented in the majority of other stages of the structure-determination pipeline, including cloning, expression, purification, crystallization and data collection. The gap in automation between crystallization and data collection results in a bottleneck in throughput and presents unfortunate opportunities for crystal damage. Several automated protein crystal harvesting systems have been developed, including systems utilizing microcapillaries, microtools, microgrippers, acoustic droplet ejection and optical traps. However, these systems have yet to be commonly deployed in the majority of crystallography laboratories owing to a variety of technical and cost-related issues. Automation of protein crystal harvesting remains essential for harnessing the full benefits of fourth-generation synchrotrons, free-electron lasers and microfocus beamlines. Furthermore, automation of protein crystal harvesting offers several benefits when compared with traditional manual approaches, including the ability to harvest microcrystals, improved flash-cooling procedures and increased throughput.

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Section: Impact Of Htpx/sgmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Iycr Crystallization Seriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Iycr Crystallization Seriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Columbia Automated Robotic Environment For Streakmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Approaches to automated protein crystal harvesting

Deller

Rupp

2014

Acta Cryst Sect F

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First experiences with semi-autonomous robotic harvesting of protein crystals

Viola

Walsh

Melka

et al. 2011

J Struct Funct Genomics

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The demonstration unit of the Universal Micromanipulation Robot (UMR) capable of semi-autonomous protein crystal harvesting has been tested and evaluated by independent users. We report the status and capabilities of the present unit scheduled for deployment in a high-throughput protein crystallization center. We discuss operational aspects as well as novel features such as micro-crystal handling and drip-cryoprotection, and we extrapolate towards the design of a fully autonomous, integrated system capable of reliable crystal harvesting. The positive to enthusiastic feedback from the participants in an evaluation workshop indicates that genuine demand exists and the effort and resources to develop autonomous protein crystal harvesting robotics are justified.

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Automatic Mixing of Bio-Samples Using Micro-Channel and Centrifugation

Liang

Zheng

Chen

et al. 2007

2007 IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering

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Abstract-Automatic mixing of bio-samples using microchannel and centrifugation is considered. Existing methods for mixing bio-samples for life science applications use micro-well and micro-stirrer which are ineffective when used with highly viscous materials at the microliter or nanoliter level. Our method mixes viscous bio-samples in micro-capsules using micro-channel and centrifugation which minimizes contact with mixing tools. To introduce the method, firstly the design of the micro-capsule along with the micro-channel is presented. Secondly, a hydrodynamic model describing the flow of viscous materials in the micro-channel is presented, and the average sample velocity and the traveling time through the microchannel are analyzed. Thirdly, the relationship between centrifugation speed and time is given to achieve effective and efficient control of the flow. Finally, experimental and theoretical results are compared.

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Automating crystal harvesting and mounting for high-throughput macromolecular crystallography

Cited by 8 publications

References 8 publications

Approaches to automated protein crystal harvesting

Approaches to automated protein crystal harvesting

First experiences with semi-autonomous robotic harvesting of protein crystals

Automatic Mixing of Bio-Samples Using Micro-Channel and Centrifugation

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