High-throughput crystallization facility at the EMBL-Hamburg

The high-throughput crystallization facility at the EMBL-Hamburg outstation consists of two modules which are designed to cover every step of the crystallization experiment and minimize manual intervention. A fully integrated liquid handling robot prepares crystallization cocktails from stock solutions, sets up crystallization trays as sitting drop experiments in 96 well micro titer plates and seals them. All plates are subsequently stored in a fully automated storage and retrieval system from RoboDesign at 19ºC. Here, high resolution images are taken on a fully customizable schedule. The results can be viewed by users on their desktop PCs.

The facility is accessed via a web-based electronic booking system (http://www.embl-hamburg.de/htpx/2005/). Users are asked to fill in their contact information (along with some experiment specific data) and allocate a time slot for their experiment (1h for every ~ 12 crystallization plates under standard conditions). The users also provide the facility with purified and concentrated sample. All experiments are done as sitting drops using the vapor diffusion method. Current choices for experimental set ups entail:

• Any 96 well SBS crystallization plate (the facility has Greiner CQ SW und CQ LP plates stocked)
  

• Any crystallization volume between 200 and 1,000 nL
  

• Up to 1,152 initial conditions
  

The system is very flexible with respect to individual requests concerning modifications to the standard setup procedures. The facility will be open to the general user community in early 2006.