TY - JOUR
T1 - Automation and Experience of Controlled Crystal Dehydration: Results from the European Synchrotron HC1 Collaboration
AU - Bowler, Matthew W.
AU - Mueller, Uwe
AU - Weiss, Manfred S.
AU - Sanchez-Weatherby, Juan
AU - Sorensen, Thomas L-M.
AU - Thunnissen, Marjolein
AU - Ursby, Thomas
AU - Gobbo, Alexandre
AU - Russi, Silvia
AU - Bowler, Michael G.
AU - Brockhauser, Sandor
AU - Svensson, Olof
AU - Cipriani, Florent
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Controlled dehydration of macromolecular crystals can lead to significant improvements in crystalline order, which often manifests itself in higher diffraction quality. Devices that can accurately control the humidity surrounding crystals on a beamline have led to this technique being increasingly adopted as experiments become easier and more reproducible. However, these experiments are often carried out by trial and error, and in order to facilitate and streamline them four European synchrotrons have established a collaboration around the HC1b dehydration device. The MAX IV Laboratory, Diamond Light Source, BESSY II, and the EMBL Grenoble Outstation/ESRF have pooled information gathered from user experiments, and on the use of the device, to propose a set of guidelines for these experiments. Here, we present the status and automation of the installations, advice on how best to perform experiments using the device, and an analysis of successful experiments that begins to show some trends in the type of protocols required by some systems. The dehydration methods shown are applicable to any device that allows control of the relative humidity of the air surrounding a macromolecular crystal.
AB - Controlled dehydration of macromolecular crystals can lead to significant improvements in crystalline order, which often manifests itself in higher diffraction quality. Devices that can accurately control the humidity surrounding crystals on a beamline have led to this technique being increasingly adopted as experiments become easier and more reproducible. However, these experiments are often carried out by trial and error, and in order to facilitate and streamline them four European synchrotrons have established a collaboration around the HC1b dehydration device. The MAX IV Laboratory, Diamond Light Source, BESSY II, and the EMBL Grenoble Outstation/ESRF have pooled information gathered from user experiments, and on the use of the device, to propose a set of guidelines for these experiments. Here, we present the status and automation of the installations, advice on how best to perform experiments using the device, and an analysis of successful experiments that begins to show some trends in the type of protocols required by some systems. The dehydration methods shown are applicable to any device that allows control of the relative humidity of the air surrounding a macromolecular crystal.
U2 - 10.1021/cg500890r
DO - 10.1021/cg500890r
M3 - Article
SN - 1528-7483
VL - 15
SP - 1043
EP - 1054
JO - Crystal Growth & Design
JF - Crystal Growth & Design
IS - 3
ER -