Indeed! We have a short communication in Acta D that is under revision (no preprint yet, sorry!), going in the same direction than what Hagelueken et al have done (using saturated salt solutions in the reservoir and transferring your crystals in perfluoropolyether oil (see paper here that we have just seen: http://journals.iucr.org/d/issues/2012/10/00/bw5408/bw5408.pdf), but instead of transferring the crystals in the 96 wells, you grow your crystals first in 96-wells, you then pierce your tray with a thin needle and add your gradient of salt concentration in the reservoir, re-seal it, let it equilibrate and use in-situ plate screening facilities available in several European synchrotrons (@ Diamond, SLS, Bessy, ESRF-FIP beamline) or in-house facilities to get an x-ray feedback of your experiment. You would follow changes in your cell parameters (like with the HC1). The advantage of this is that hopefully you get an overall picture of whether dehydration has an effect on your samples within one experiment without handling your crystals (which could add another detrimental parameter to your samples). This is a work in progress at Diamond and we are happy to help/talk to anyone who would like to try it, just contact us:
Alice Douangamath (alice.douangam...@diamond.ac.uk) Pierre Aller (pierre.al...@diamond.ac.uk) Juan Sanchez-Weatherby (juan.sanchez-weathe...@diamond.ac.uk) Jose Brandao-Neto (jose.brandao-n...@diamond.ac.uk) -----Original Message----- From: CCP4 bulletin board [mailto:CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK] On Behalf Of Hargreaves, David Sent: 16 January 2013 12:37 To: ccp4bb Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] crystal dehydration Judith, If you can, try monitoring the diffraction during the dehydration experiment. There are plenty of ways of doing this. Perhaps the simplest is to shoot your crystals in-situ after swapping the precipitant for a more concentrated one. The is also the Free Mounting System. David Hargreaves Associate Principal Scientist _____________________________________________________________________ AstraZeneca Discovery Sciences, Structure & Biophysics Mereside, 50F49, Alderley Park, Cheshire, SK10 4TF Tel +44 (0)01625 518521 Fax +44 (0) 1625 232693 David.Hargreaves @astrazeneca.com Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail -------------------------------------------------------------------------- AstraZeneca UK Limited is a company incorporated in England and Wales with registered number: 03674842 and a registered office at 2 Kingdom Street, London, W2 6BD. Confidentiality Notice: This message is private and may contain confidential, proprietary and legally privileged information. If you have received this message in error, please notify us and remove it from your system and note that you must not copy, distribute or take any action in reliance on it. Any unauthorised use or disclosure of the contents of this message is not permitted and may be unlawful. Disclaimer: Email messages may be subject to delays, interception, non-delivery and unauthorised alterations. Therefore, information expressed in this message is not given or endorsed by AstraZeneca UK Limited unless otherwise notified by an authorised representative independent of this message. No contractual relationship is created by this message by any person unless specifically indicated by agreement in writing other than email. Monitoring: AstraZeneca UK Limited may monitor email traffic data and content for the purposes of the prevention and detection of crime, ensuring the security of our computer systems and checking Compliance with our Code of Conduct and Policies. -----Original Message----- From: CCP4 bulletin board [mailto:CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK] On Behalf Of Judith A Ronau Sent: 15 January 2013 14:47 To: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK Subject: [ccp4bb] crystal dehydration Greetings! I have recently been attempting crystal dehydration experiments to improve diffraction following the procedures from the ERSF in which crystals are exposed to increased concentrations of precipitant. I would like to know if anyone knew of any alternative methods for dehydration of protein crystals. Thanks! Best, Judith