I recently had a similar situation for a protein crystal that was sitting in very thick, sticky goop. I put three drops of Paratone N on a coverslip and harvested the crystal by using a Mitegen yoke tool to "dig" around the crystal, then a regular nylon loop to move the crystal into a drop of Paratone N. A bit of the semi solid goop came over with the crystal, but I was able to swish it away in the Paratone N. I repeated this in a total of three drops and then flash froze it in liquid nitrogen. The crystal diffracted to better than 2 Å at the synchrotron. Good luck on recovering your crystals!
Regards, Bryan From: CCP4 bulletin board [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Debasish Chattopadhyay Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2014 11:00 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [ccp4bb] Recovering crystals from dry drops Would you please share your experience and comments on recovering protein crystals from dry (or almost dry hanging drops) for data collection. I found some beautiful crystals in hanging drops that were set up three years ago; from the color of the crystals ( the protein binds a colored substrate) and the their shape I know these are crystals of my protein. I had collected data using some of these crystals when they were fresh; resolution was poor and the overall I/sigma was low. I am curious if the dehydration would improve the diffraction now. Thanks Debasish Ph: (205)934-0124; Fax: (205)934-0480 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Confidentiality Notice: This message is private and may contain confidential and proprietary information. If you have received this message in error, please notify us and remove it from your system and note that you must not copy, distribute or take any action in reliance on it. Any unauthorized use or disclosure of the contents of this message is not permitted and may be unlawful.
