Arguably the most difficult step in X-ray crystallography is crystallisation. This was for a long time a very protein hungry process. However, with recent development in robotics, it is now possible to set up crystallisation experiments with 50 or 100nl drops. It is possible to screen 96 trial conditions with less than 30 ul of protein.

The CSB has recently purchased two robots for crystallisation, a Tecan freedom evo liquid handler and a Mosquito nanodrop dispenser. These were bought with money from an REI application lead by Dr Erhard Hohenester and including many members of the CSB.

Access this facility

These robots are available for everyone in college to use. Please contact the CSB Facilities manager, Dr Marc Morgan, to discuss use of the facility and for a training session on the Mosquito robot. You can register to book the instruments and book time on the system.

The CSB Crystallisation Facility also provides pre-filled plates, so anyone can test their proteins for crystallisation without a large setup cost.

Find out more

Read more about the CSB crystallisation facilities on the X-ray crystallography website.