Crystallography Sample Supports – the next-generation crystal mounting system from MiTeGen

MiTeGen announces the development of a next-generation crystal mounting system that will change how crystals are prepared for X-ray diffraction data collection.

This new system allows users to:

• Mount single crystals or thousands for microcrystals
  
• Optimize for serial crystallography or single-crystal XRD
• Perform either cryogenic or room-temperature diffraction

How it works: 

Crystals are mounted onto the supports utilizing a humidified sample loading box. The high-humidity box allows samples to be prepared without unintentional dehydration to the drops or crystals. The supports can then be plunge-cooled (for work at cryogenic temperatures) or sealed (for room-temperature work).

The system has multiple applications:

• Conventional crystallography
• Serial crystallography
• In-situ crystallography
• Room-temperature crystallography
• And more

Major salient features include:

• The system is compatible with existing infrastructure for high-throughput crystallography at synchrotrons and addresses major issues in maximizing data quantity and quality from large numbers of small crystals.
• The sample supports are compatible with existing infrastructure for home source and mail-in storage-ring crystallography, including sample handling tools, storage cassettes/pucks, automounters and goniometer stages.
• This integrated system addresses common problems in obtaining properly dispersed, properly hydrated and isomorphous microcrystals for fixed orientation and oscillation data collection. Its ease of use, flexibility and optimized performance make it attractive not just for serial synchrotron crystallography but also for single- and few-crystal data collection.

Why did MiTeGen design this system?

“We are excited about the developments we have been making to advance how crystals are delivered to the X-ray beam”, says Ben Apker, COO of MiTeGen. “We believe that the new sample support system will change how crystallographers prepare crystals for data collection, whether they are doing serial work on microcrystals or using larger single-crystal approaches.”

Collaboration and feedback

The system is still in continual development and MiTeGen is seeking input from interested parties for further refinement of the system.

Learn more about Crystallography Sample Supports here

Read the paper in Acta Crystallographica Section D