USING MICROBATCH FOR LARGE-SCALE CRYSTALLIZATION PROJECTS
Patrick Shaw Stewart and Peter Baldock, Douglas Instruments Ltd, Hungerford, UK.
Tel: +44 (0)1488 649090 -  US Toll free 1-877-225-2034  -  www.douglas.co.uk  -   patrick(at)douglas.co.uk

Very Fast - 240 wells/hour
more than 50 wells/hour for screening
              screen2.gif (2412 bytes)

Uses little protein
0.1 - 1 µl per well
                                 optim2.gif (1195 bytes)

Microbatch screening finds more leads
than VD in a given time
          mbvsvd.gif (3919 bytes)
J. Crystal Growth. 168 (1996), pp 170-174. or: http://www.douglas.co.uk/rep2.htm

Microbatch
produces

    luciferase.jpg (10193 bytes)
MB crystals of firefly luciferase.  Data could not be collected from VD crystals which were unstable. Courtesy of E. Conti.  Acta Crystallographica. D 52 (1996), 4, pp 876-878
http://www.douglas.co.uk/rep3.htm

large diffracting 
crystals

    alcdehydrogenase.jpg (6676 bytes)
MB crystal of alcohol dehydrogenase from a thermophilic bacterium. Courtesy of Y. Korkhin.  Acta Crystallographica. D 52 (1996), pp 882-886.
http://www.douglas.co.uk/rep1.htm

Software for multivariate experiments
including Central Composite (shown) and Box-Behnken designs

.
XSTEP2.gif (16173 bytes)   centcomp.gif (1625 bytes)
J. Crystal Growth 196 (1999) 665-73 or ... douglas.co.uk/rat_des.htm

High productivity
the method uses fewer personnel and has a lower capital cost

Method

Plates dispensed per day

Wells per protein

Proteins screened per day

Manual vapor diffusion

10 (24 wells)

192

1.25

Automated regular V.D

16 (24 wells)

192

2

Automated microbatch

12 (96 wells)

192

4.5

http://www.douglas.co.uk/proposal.htm#resources

IMPAX Robot
for microbatch crystallization
       IMP_gla1.jpg (63325 bytes)
Oryx Robot
for microbatch and vapor diffusion
       oryx.jpg (53831 bytes)

 

 

 

 


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