> Does your system eliminate the need for cryoprotection?
Since the method removes water on the crystal before freezing, in some
cases, we can go with lower concentration of cryoprotectant, like
Paratone-N. But I usually use cryoprotectant for safety.
> Also, how do you time the buffer-removal/freezing steps?
When I use my mouth as a "vacuum cleaner", I open the cold N2 flow
just after sucking the pipe. Existence or removal of the liquid around
the crystal in the loop can be seen by shine with reflected light of
illumination for crystal centering.
With the semi-automatic equipment we have developed, timing between
sucking and freezing can be set from tens to several hundreds milli-
sec. I hope we can provide these equipment broadly, but making
capillary at a low price is the major bottleneck.
By the way, I have put a "crystal gallery" , "structures solved by the
method" and a table of some crystal parameters on the web page.
http://www.nusrc.nagoya-u.ac.jp/WatanabeLab/XtalMount/
Nobuhisa Watanabe
===
Synchrotron Radiation Research Center
Department of Biotechnology and Biomaterial Chemistry,
Graduate School of Engineering
Nagoya University
Furo-cho Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 4648603 Japan
Email: [log in to unmask]
Fax: +81-52-789-5286
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