Hello, I have traveled to a neutron beamline ~6 times over the past several years.
I have had awful luck shipping crystals, so I decided to hand-carry and I found this best. I'm not sure what conditions you plan to shoot your crystals. I mount my crystals in a sturdy quartz capillary (from vitrocom), seal the ends with a layer of wax, then two coats of nail polish (choose your favorite prettiest color!) I would then wrap the capillary in cotton from a cottonball, then "stuff" the capillary-cotton combination in a 15 mL falcon tube for a snug fit. For extra assurance, the falcon tubes were placed inside a generous amount of bubble-wrap that was then taped inside a small cardboard box. I have sought anaerobic conditions for several of my samples to acquire a desired redox state of my metallo-protein. This was tough, so instead I used a high-ish concentration of my redox agent dissolved in my reservoir solution "slugs" in the capillary. These would be replaced in intervals with fresh slugs prior to the beamtime, and for sure right before the beamtime. The redox state held for my ~10 days of beamtime and several months after. For cryo-conditions, I just placed a bunch of my crystals in a capillary filled with reservoir solution and sealed as above. I would do my chemical manipulations and freezing at the beamline. Much more details are found in our publication: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30279321 Hope this helps! ________________________________ From: CCP4 bulletin board <[email protected]> on behalf of [email protected] <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2020 4:22 AM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: [ccp4bb] Shipping samples for neutron diffraction Non-UNMC email Dear CCP4 community, I have an impending trip to a neutron source and was wondering how people tend to ship their samples prior to beam time? Is sending something frozen best or is sealed in a capillary more sensible or is there another better way? One caveat is that ideally my sample should remain anaerobic which has me leaning towards frozen, but I guess in pcr type tubes sealed in gas tight vessels is also a viable option? Any thoughts or suggestions are very much appreciated. Best wishes, Steve Dr Stephen Carr Research Complex at Harwell (RCaH) Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Harwell Oxford Didcot Oxon OX11 0FA United Kingdom Email [email protected] tel 01235 567717 This email and any attachments may contain confidential, copyright and or privileged material, and are for the use of the intended addressee only. If you are not the intended addressee or an authorized recipient of the addressee, please notify us of receipt by returning the e-mail and do not use, copy, retain, distribute or disclose the information in or attached to this email. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Research Complex at Harwell. There is no guarantee that this email or any attachments are free from viruses and we cannot accept liability for any damage which you may sustain as a result of software viruses which may be transmitted in or with the message. We use an electronic filing system. Please send electronic versions of documents, unless paper is specifically requested. This email may have a protective marking, for an explanation, please see: https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.mrc.ac.uk/About/informationandstandards/documentmarking/index.htm__;!!JkUDQA!b5-sOFziDpUSOnWUVY3BWn_6eloBp1th-M3qGa2sBfF1-Ak7AgXiHT91jdMOlwo3yU5MtpQ$ . ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1__;!!JkUDQA!b5-sOFziDpUSOnWUVY3BWn_6eloBp1th-M3qGa2sBfF1-Ak7AgXiHT91jdMOlwo37r205do$ The information in this e-mail may be privileged and confidential, intended only for the use of the addressee(s) above. Any unauthorized use or disclosure of this information is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail by mistake, please delete it and immediately contact the sender. ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1
