scholarly journals Design and application of a microfluidic device for protein crystallization using an evaporation-based crystallization technique

2011 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Yu ◽  
Xuan Wang ◽  
Dominik Oberthür ◽  
Arne Meyer ◽  
Markus Perbandt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Microfluidic Device ◽  
Gas Permeability ◽  
Protein Crystallization ◽  
Microfluidic Devices ◽  
Protein Crystals ◽  
Air Bubbles ◽  
Crystallization System ◽  
Relationship Of

A new crystallization system is described, which makes it possible to use an evaporation-based microfluidic crystallization technique for protein crystallization. The gas and water permeability of the used polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) material enables evaporation of the protein solution in the microfluidic device. The rates of evaporation are controlled by the relative humidity conditions, which are adjusted in a precise and stable way by using saturated solutions of different reagents. The protein crystals could nucleate and grow under different relative humidity conditions. Using this method, crystal growth could be improved so that approximately 1 mm-sized lysozyme crystals were obtained more successfully than using standard methods. The largest lysozyme crystal obtained reached 1.57 mm in size. The disadvantage of the good gas permeability in PDMS microfluidic devices becomes an advantage for protein crystallization. The radius distributions of aggregrates in the solutions inside the described microfluidic devices were derived fromin situdynamic light scattering measurements. The experiments showed that the environment inside of the microfluidic device is more stable than that of conventional crystallization techniques. However, the morphological results showed that the protein crystals grown in the microfluidic device could lose their morphological stability. Air bubbles in microfluidic devices play an important role in the evaporation progress. A model was constructed to analyze the relationship of the rates of evaporation and the growth of air bubbles to the relative humidity.

Guided assembly of nanowires and their integration in microfluidic devices

2011 ◽  
Vol 1346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josep Puigmarti-Luis ◽  
Phillip Kuhn ◽  
Benjamin Z. Cvetković ◽  
Daniel Schaffhauser ◽  
Marta Rubio-Martínez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microfluidic Device ◽  
Coordination Polymers ◽  
Microfluidic Devices ◽  
Hybrid Structures ◽  
Effective Strategy ◽  
Microfluidic Platforms ◽  
Guided Assembly

ABSTRACTIn this contribution, we present an effective strategy for assembling and integrating functional, in situ formed micro- and nanosized structures. Microfluidic platforms are employed to form anisotropic hybrid structures and coordination polymers at the interface of two precursor streams. Microstamps, embedded in the microfluidic device and actuated by pressure, provide a facile and reliable technology for structure trapping, localization and integration.

scholarly journals In situdata collection and structure refinement from microcapillary protein crystallization

2005 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 900-905 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maneesh K. Yadav ◽  
Cory J. Gerdts ◽  
Ruslan Sanishvili ◽  
Ward W. Smith ◽  
L. Spencer Roach ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Structure Refinement ◽  
Protein Crystallization ◽  
Protein Crystals ◽  
Test Case ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Density Maps ◽  
Determination Process ◽  
Resolution Electron ◽  
Major Bottleneck

In situX-ray data collection has the potential to eliminate the challenging task of mounting and cryocooling often fragile protein crystals, reducing a major bottleneck in the structure determination process. An apparatus used to grow protein crystals in capillaries and to compare the background X-ray scattering of the components, including thin-walled glass capillaries against Teflon, and various fluorocarbon oils against each other, is described. Using thaumatin as a test case at 1.8 Å resolution, this study demonstrates that high-resolution electron density maps and refined models can be obtained fromin situdiffraction of crystals grown in microcapillaries.

scholarly journals A microfluidic device for both on-chip dialysis protein crystallization and in situ X-ray diffraction

Lab on a Chip ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 296-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niels Junius ◽  
Sofia Jaho ◽  
Yoann Sallaz-Damaz ◽  
Franck Borel ◽  
Jean-Baptiste Salmon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microfluidic Device ◽  
Microfluidic Chip ◽  
Protein Crystallization ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Dialysis Method ◽  
On Chip

This paper reports a versatile microfluidic chip developed for on-chip crystallization of proteins through the dialysis method and in situ X-ray diffraction experiments.

A Thread/Fabric-Based Band as A Flexible and Wearable Microfluidic Device for Sweat Sensing and Monitoring

Lab on a Chip ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiqi Zhao ◽  
Qiujin Li ◽  
Linna Chen ◽  
Yu Zhao ◽  
Jixian Gong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microfluidic Device ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Monitoring Systems ◽  
Biological Analytes

Flexible biosensors for monitoring systems have emerged as a promising portable diagnostics platform due to their potential for in situ point-of-care (POC) analytic devices. Assessment of biological analytes in sweat...

Use of a crystallization robot to set up sitting-drop vapor-diffusion crystallization andin situcrystallization screens

2000 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 344-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher F. Snook ◽  
Michael D. Purdy ◽  
Michael C. Wiener
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Proteins ◽  
Protein Crystallization ◽  
Integral Membrane Proteins ◽  
Vapor Diffusion ◽  
Liquid Handling ◽  
General Utility ◽  
Crystallization Experiments ◽  
Automated Screening ◽  
Set Up

A commercial crystallization robot has been modified for use in setting up sitting-drop vapor-diffusion crystallization experiments, and for setting up protein crystallization screensin situ. The primary aim of this effort is the automated screening of crystallization of integral membrane proteins in detergent-containing solutions. However, the results of this work are of general utility to robotic liquid-handling systems. Sources of error that can prevent the accurate dispensing and mixing of solutions have been identified, and include local environmental, machine-specific and solution conditions. Solutions to each of these problems have been developed and implemented.

First global assessment of modelled aerosol hygroscopicity in the context of other aerosol optical properties

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Ángeles Burgos Simón ◽  
Elisabeth Andrews ◽  
Gloria Titos ◽  
Angela Benedetti ◽  
Huisheng Bian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Optical Properties ◽  
Light Scattering ◽  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Water Uptake ◽  
Chem Phys ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Aerosol Optical Properties ◽  
System Models ◽  
Earth System Models

<p>The particle hygroscopic growth impacts the optical properties of aerosols and, in turn, affects the aerosol-radiation interaction and calculation of the Earth’s radiative balance. The dependence of particle light scattering on relative humidity (RH) can be described by the scattering enhancement factor f(RH), defined as the ratio between the particle light scattering coefficient at a given RH divided by its dry value.</p><p>The first effort of the AeroCom Phase III – INSITU experiment was to develop an observational dataset of scattering enhancement values at 26 sites to study the uptake of water by atmospheric aerosols, and evaluate f(RH) globally (Burgos et al., 2019). Model outputs from 10 Earth System Models (CAM, CAM-ATRAS, CAM-Oslo, GEOS-Chem, GEOS-GOCART, MERRAero, TM5, OsloCTM3, IFS-AER, and ECMWF) were then evaluated against this in-situ dataset. Building on these results, we investigate f(RH) in the context of other aerosol optical and chemical properties, making use of the same 10 Earth System Models (ESMs) and in-situ measurements as in Burgos et al. (2020) and Titos et al. (2021).</p><p>Given the difficulties of deploying and maintaining instrumentation for long-term, accurate and comprehensive f(RH) observations, it is desirable to find an observational proxy for f(RH). This observation-based proxy would also need to be reproduced in modelling space. Our aim here is to evaluate how ESMs currently represent the relationship between f(RH), scattering Ångström exponent (SAE), and single scattering albedo (SSA). This work helps to identify current challenges in modelling water-uptake by aerosols and their impact on aerosol optical properties within Earth system models.</p><p>We start by analyzing the behavior of SSA with RH, finding the expected increase with RH for all site types and models. Then, we analyze the three variables together (f(RH)-SSA-SAE relationship). Results show that hygroscopic particles tend to be bigger and scatter more than non-hygroscopic small particles, though variability within models is noticeable. This relationship can be further studied by relating SAE to model chemistry, by selecting those grid points dominated by a single chemical component (mass mixing ratios > 90%). Finally, we analyze model performance at three specific sites representing different aerosol types: Arctic, marine and rural. At these sites, the model data can be exactly temporally and spatially collocated with the observations, which should help to identify the models which exhibit better agreement with measurements and for which aerosol type.</p><p> </p><p>Burgos, M.A. et al.: A global view on the effect of water uptake on aerosol particle light scattering. Sci Data 6, 157. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0158-7, 2019.</p><p>Burgos, M.A. et al.: A global model–measurement evaluation of particle light scattering coefficients at elevated relative humidity, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10231–10258, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10231-2020, 2020.</p><p>Titos, G. et al.: A global study of hygroscopicity-driven light scattering enhancement in the context of other in-situ aerosol optical properties, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-1250, in review, 2020.</p>

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