Dear colleagues As you may know, I work with Robert Thorne on developing cryocrystallography methods. We are currently looking for collaborations with crystallographers who would be able to supply us with certain kinds of protein crystal systems. These include:
-crystals that freeze poorly. (i.e. crystals that show much better diffraction at room temperature than when frozen) -more generally, crystals that show any dramatic change (space group, molecular structure, etc) on cooling -crystals that are particularly radiation sensitive at room temperature (perhaps 10 or 100 times more susceptible to damage than 'usual') -large complexes/viruses that we believe may benefit from ultra-slow cooling The general theme is that these cases will be interesting to study as a function of temperature and cooling rate. For example, if there is a large motion of some part of protein structure on cooling, rapid cooling may trap the room temperature ensemble, whereas very slow cooling might give a better-ordered 'annealed' structure. Thank you for your consideration, and please don't hesitate to email me directly with questions. Matt Warkentin
