Microfluidic platforms have a long history of use in the field of protein crystallization and structure determination. The benefit of microfluidics stems from both enabling experiments at small volumes, while also of creating an environment free of inertial or convective effects and providing exquisite control over local conditions and gradients. Many of these same arguments related to a convection-free environment have been the basis of crystallization efforts performed in microgravity. For either case, a significant limitation associated with the growth of crystals in such environments is the need to manually harvest and mount crystals once they are grown for subsequent X-ray and/or neutron diffraction analysis. Such physical handling has tremendous potential to inflict damage on the crystal and reduce the quality of the resulting structural data. We have developed a series of X-ray compatible microfluidic platforms for protein crystallization that can be used to enable <i>in situ</i> analysis of crystals without the need to remove them from the environment in which they are grown. Furthermore, microfluidics can enable the large-scale studies needed to enable statistical analysis the potential benefits of crystal growth in an environment with controlled convection.

Microfluidics and/or microgravity for protein crystallization

2019 Spring National Meeting

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