It may be worth noting that unless rigorous efforts to retard water transfer are made, most microbatch experiments become vapor diffusion experiments. A most common situation arises when microbatch is undertaken in polystyrene containers. Water can then diffuse from the crystallization droplet through the polystyrene. Normally this diffusion process through the plastic takes some time to be significant but it's worth noting that the conditions in the droplet are not invariant in time. If you want to keep the conditions more or less unchanged you will probably be best off undertaking your experiments in glass vessels - and sealing with silicone grease.
George T. DeTitta, Ph.D. Principal Research Scientist Hauptman-Woodward Institute Professor and Chairman Department of Structural Biology SUNY at Buffalo 700 Ellicott Street Buffalo NY 14203-1102 USA (716) 898-8600 (voice) (716) 898-8660 (fax) www.hwi.buffalo.edu <http://www.hwi.buffalo.edu> ________________________________ From: CCP4 bulletin board [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Kris Tesh Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 12:24 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] microbatch vs hanging drop The obvious difference is that the ratio of drop volume to well volume can be potentially greater in non-microbatch wells, and can accommodate higher solvent volume transfers...which is generally in dehydration, but can be for hydration too. Other considerations are the slower rate of temperature change with larger volumes, the distance between the drop and reservoir, rate of drop dehydration when opened, and (for practical use) the ease of withdrawing crystals. And, although many crystals show evidence of crystallization in both systems, some will only grow in one or the other. Kris --------------------------------- Kris F. Tesh, Ph D Director, Macromolecular Products Rigaku Americas Corporation 9009 New Trails Drive The Woodlands, TX 77381 USA 001 281 362 2300 x 144 From: rui <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Date: 04/22/2009 11:09 AM Subject: [ccp4bb] microbatch vs hanging drop ________________________________ Hi, I have a question about the method for crystallization. With traditional hanging drop(24 wells), one slide can also hold for multiple drops but it requires the buffer quite a lot, > 600uL? Microbatch can save buffers,only 100uL is required, and also can hold up to three samples in the sitting well. Other than saving the buffer, what's the advantage of microbatch? Which method will be easier to get crystals or no big difference? Thanks for sharing. R
