Center for Biomolecular Structure Lecture Series

"Microfluidics for Structural Biology"

Presented by Sarah Perry, Umass

Wednesday, February 19, 2025, 1:30 pm — Videoconference / Virtual Event (see link below)

The advent of faster and ever more brilliant synchrotrons and X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs), has enabled protein structure determination using ever-smaller crystals and more challenging targets. This use of smaller and more sensitive crystals has also necessitated a transition from single-crystal data collection to multi-crystal or even serial data strategies where the handling and presentation of crystals to the X-ray beam represents a significant challenge. Efforts to push towards time-resolved structural studies only further exacerbate these difficulties. Microfluidic technologies have long been associated with protein crystallization due to the ability to perform large numbers of experiments using miniscule sample volumes. The small length-scales of microfluidic devices also enables exquisite control over local conditions and gradients to facilitate crystal growth. Furthermore, these platforms can be leveraged to create fixed-target arrays of crystals in an X-ray compatible architecture. We have developed a number of different X-ray compatible microfluidic platforms to enable the preparation and in situ X-ray diffraction analysis of protein crystals for experiments ranging from drug discovery to structure determination to time-resolved structural studies. In particular, we will highlight recent efforts that use of graphene to enable the collection of anaerobic, room temperature diffraction data for highly oxygen sensitive proteins.

Hosted by: Vivian Stojanoff

Videoconference Instructions

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