A microfluidic device for both on-chip dialysis protein crystallization and in situ X-ray diffraction

A new microfabrication process, developed by the IBS Synchrotron group, in collaboration with LOF Bordeaux, enables the integration of regenerated cellulose dialysis membranes between two layers of the microchip, therefore proposing a robust and inexpensive way to fabricate polyvalent microchips.
They cover the whole process, from the crystal growth on chip with the desired properties (size, number, crystal quality) by the micro-dialysis method, to the in situ X-ray diffraction experiments on several isomorphic crystals.
This approach does not require any handling of the protein crystals prior to the diffraction experiment and the collection of crystallographic data at room temperature allow the resolution of three-dimensional structure of proteins, with a much lower background noise than that generated by commercial crystallization plates used for diffraction experiments under the same experimental conditions.
The results presented here allow serial crystallography experiments on synchrotrons and X-ray lasers under dynamically controllable sample conditions to be observed using the developed microchips.

A microfluidic device for both on-chip dialysis protein crystallization and in situ X-ray diffraction. Junius N, Jaho S, Sallaz-Damaz Y, Borel F, Salmon JB, Budayova-Spano M. Lab on a Chip ; 20(2):296-310

Contact : Monika Budayova-Spano