Course or Conference 4
The goal of the course is to present methods of macromolecular crystallization and give hands-on experience with them. Participants may bring their own proteins. The course is divided into 50% lectures and 50% laboratory sessions. Limit: 20 participants.
- Topics to be covered by lectures and laboratory sessions include:
- Conventional techniques and their modifications.
- High-throughput crystallization screening.
- The path to crystals. The phase diagram and the kinetics of equilibration.
- Optimization: Exploiting protein formulation, cocktail formulation, and time to equilibration.
- Using a microfluidic device to determine protein precipitation boundaries.
- A pro-active strategy for crystallization.
- Oils as tools for crystallization.
- How to choose your method of crystallization.
- Seeding as an optimization tool.
- Interpretation of the crystallization drop phenomenon: recognizing what you see.
- Does it matter what screen that you use?
- Biophysical tools for crystallization: mass spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, Thermofluor.
- Crystal clear communication: the role of LIMS in a crystallization laboratory.
- Cryoprotection.