Increasing the throughput of crystallization condition screens: Challenges and pitfalls of acoustic dispensing systems

0509613 - ÚOCHB 2020 RIV NL eng J - Journal Article
Kryštůfek, Robin - Šácha, Pavel
Increasing the throughput of crystallization condition screens: Challenges and pitfalls of acoustic dispensing systems.
MethodsX. Roč. 6, Sep 25 (2019), s. 2230-2236. E-ISSN 2215-0161
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT(CZ) EF16_019/0000729; GA MPO(CZ) FV10490; GA ČR(CZ) GA19-10280S
Institutional support: RVO:61388963
Keywords : acoustic liquid transfer * protein crystallography * crystallization screening * laboratory automation
OECD category: Biochemical research methods
Method of publishing: Open access
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215016119302547?via%3Dihub

Advances in contactless acoustic liquid transfer technologies have unlocked opportunities to substantially increase the throughput of crystallization screens and decrease the consumption of reagents and consumables. Acoustic energy transfer enables crystallization experiments to be set up precisely and rapidly on a nanoliter scale. Nonetheless, adapting acoustic transfer methods to a diverse range of crystallization conditions and their physicochemical idiosyncrasies remains a major bottleneck for true universality of this technique. Even though the reagent limitations still remain an issue, we present a straightforward protocol for setting up crystallization experiments by acoustic transfer using a Labcyte Echo 550 instrument, with a focus on the technical limitations of this method, including reagent compatibilities, spatial resolution and downscaling limits.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0300302