Hi Junhua:
These are ccp4 bb questions, so don't apologize (or we all will start
having to do so).
All of my room-temperature shipping experiences are pre 9-11-2001, and
involve carrying stuff with me on airplanes, which is now an impossibility
(unless you possess a Saudi diplomatic pouch, but in that case you
probably can afford your own private jet).
Options like Fed Exp will subject your crystals to large temperature
fluctuations, and probably major blunt trauma injuries.
I would probably either figure out how to freeze them, or drive them from
Houston to Chicago. A third option is to ship the ingredients, and then
grow the crystals there. It might be worth the extra airplane fare.
Bill
Junhua Pan wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> Sorry for the non CCP4 questions. We would like to ship some virus
> crystals to a synchrotron at room temperature (for room temperature
> diffraction). I am wondering if anybody has ever had any good experience
> for this kind of shipping. Especially, it would be great if anybody has
> any good ideas other than pre-mounting the crystals in quartz capillaries
> (I won't be driving from Houston to Chicago though :D). I would also like
> to know more about the things that I need to pay extra attention to, if I
> have to deal with capillaries. Any suggestions would be greatly
> appreciated.
>
> I'm now testing the more convenient MiTeGen MicroMounts. However, I am not
> sure whether the crystals can remain resting on the MicroMounts aperture
> during the course of a typical Fedex shipping (according to the
> MicroMounts instruction sheet, crystals should not be trapped in the
> aperture). It would be great if anybody would share your previous
> experience with regard to the MiTeGen stuff.
>
> Another question about the MiTeGen mounting tools is that I always observe
> a stong diffraction ring at about 5 A. Well, it is not exactly a ring;
> it's actually two thick arches (pretty thick, roughly from 5.5 A to 4.8
> A), one at the top and the other at the bottom of the diffraction patterns
> (nothing on the left-hand or right-hand side). Does anybody have any idea
> what this might be (fiber?)?
>
> thanks a lot for your help!
>
> Junhua
> ---
> Junhua Pan
> Department of Biochemistry & Cell Biology
> 327 Keck Hall, Rice University
> 6100 Main Street MS-140
> Houston, TX 77005
> Phone: (713)348-3346
> Email: [log in to unmask]
>
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