title: Screening of protein crystallization conditions on a microfluidic chip using nanoliter-size droplets.
abstract: Protein crystallization is a major bottleneck in determining tertiary protein structures from genomic sequence data. This paper describes a microfluidic system for screening hundreds of protein crystallization conditions using less than 4 nL of protein solution for each crystallization droplet. The droplets are formed by mixing protein, precipitant, and additive stock solutions in variable ratios in a flow of water-immiscible fluids inside microchannels. Each droplet represents a discrete trial testing different conditions. The system has been validated by crystallization of several water-soluble proteins.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The University of Chicago, 5735 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: L Spencer
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Roach
authors.forename: Rustem F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Ismagilov
mesh_terms: D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D044085:Microfluidics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D009113:Muramidase / Q000737:chemistry; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000494:pharmacology; D011487:Protein Conformation / Q000187:drug effects; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D014783:Viscosity
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D009113:Muramidase