Rui
Microbatch - which I take to mean crystallization under oil with no reservoir - has many advantages, but with some robots it's a little slower to set up (20 mins on ours). So most people I know start off with vapor diffusion and only move to microbatch if they have problems with VD. It seems to find as many hits as vapor diffusion, but in different conditions - see http://www.douglas.co.uk/mbnvdall.htm <http://www.douglas.co.uk/mbnvdall.htm> Main advantages: 1. Gives thinner skins on drops and less protein is lost on the surface 2. The oil often protects sensitive proteins such as membrane proteins or oxygen sensitive proteins 3. You can change temperature freely (no condensation etc.) 4. Very good for use with volatile organics, see e.g. http://www.douglas.co.uk/winner1.htm <http://www.douglas.co.uk/winner1.htm> And you can use it with "MMS" microseeding just like VD - very important I believe. I guess the main disadvantage is that it can be hard to harvest crystals through the oil (although some say the oil makes it easier because you can take your time) People are using smaller and smaller reservoirs so I guess one day they'll realize that you don't need a reservoir ;-) Good luck Patrick -- For information and discussion about protein crystallization and automation, please join our bulletin board at http://groups-beta.google.com/group/oryx_group?hl=en patr...@douglas.co.uk Douglas Instruments Ltd. DouglasHouse, EastGarston, Hungerford, Berkshire, RG177HD, UK Directors: Peter Baldock, Patrick Shaw Stewart http://www.douglas.co.uk/ Tel: 44 (0) 148-864-9090 US toll-free 1-877-225-2034 Regd. England 2177994, VAT Reg. GB 480 7371 36 From: CCP4 bulletin board [mailto:ccp...@jiscmail.ac.uk] On Behalf Of rui Sent: 22 April 2009 17:06 To: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK 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
