Hi, Why not give macroseeding a try? On the other hand, did your try additive screens? You might find something that modifies the growth behavior of your crystals. In some cases simple manipulation of ionic strength could have great effects. I had a crystal that had a long axis, but the crystals grew as cubes - not ideal for crystal aligning for data collection. Then I found that including about 1M of monovalent salts can turn the crystals into rods, with the long axis being parallel with the longest edge of the rod.
Zhiijie From: Nian Huang Sent: Monday, November 14, 2011 4:15 PM To: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK Subject: [ccp4bb] [off topic] Control of crystals' direction and position in the drop. Dear All, Does anybody find a way to control a crystal's positioning in the drop? I have needle shaped crystals. What I found out is that the vertical positioned crystals always grow much thicker than the crystals laying flatly. But unfortunately, it is a completely random event and only 1% crystals can appear vertically. I have tried different formats of plates and equilibration techniques w/o much success. Any suggestion is highly appreciated. Nian Huang, Ph.D. UT Southwestern Medical Center