Co-flow injection for serial crystallography at X-ray free-electron lasers

Type of content
Journal Article
Thesis discipline
Degree name
Publisher
International Union of Crystallography (IUCr)
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
eng
Date
2022
Authors
Doppler D
Rabbani MT
Letrun R
Villarreal JC
Kim DH
Gandhi S
Egatz-Gomez A
Sonker M
Chen, J.
Koua FHM
Abstract

Serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) is a powerful technique that exploits X-ray free-electron lasers to determine the structure of macromolecules at room temperature. Despite the impressive exposition of structural details with this novel crystallographic approach, the methods currently available to introduce crystals into the path of the X-ray beam sometimes exhibit serious drawbacks. Samples requiring liquid injection of crystal slurries consume large quantities of crystals (at times up to a gram of protein per data set), may not be compatible with vacuum configurations on beamlines or provide a high background due to additional sheathing liquids present during the injection. Proposed and characterized here is the use of an immiscible inert oil phase to supplement the flow of sample in a hybrid microfluidic 3D-printed co-flow device. Co-flow generation is reported with sample and oil phases flowing in parallel, resulting in stable injection conditions for two different resin materials experimentally. A numerical model is presented that adequately predicts these flow-rate conditions. The co-flow generating devices reduce crystal clogging effects, have the potential to conserve protein crystal samples up to 95% and will allow degradation-free light-induced time-resolved SFX.

Description
Citation
Doppler D, Rabbani MT, Letrun R, Villarreal JC, Kim DH, Gandhi S, Egatz-Gomez A, Sonker M, Chen J, Koua FHM, Yang J, Youssef M, Mazalova V, Bajt S, Shelby ML (2022). Co-flow injection for serial crystallography at X-ray free-electron lasers. Journal of Applied Crystallography. 55(Pt 1). 1-13.
Keywords
3D printing, X-ray free-electron lasers, XFELs, microfluidic devices, sample consumption, serial crystallography, viscous media
Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
34 - Chemical sciences::3403 - Macromolecular and materials chemistry::340302 - Macromolecular materials
34 - Chemical sciences::3402 - Inorganic chemistry::340202 - Crystallography
40 - Engineering::4012 - Fluid mechanics and thermal engineering::401210 - Microfluidics and nanofluidics
40 - Engineering::4014 - Manufacturing engineering::401401 - Additive manufacturing
40 - Engineering::4014 - Manufacturing engineering::401410 - Microtechnology
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