Upgrade and capacity increase to the Macromolecular Crystallization Facility

Group Biomedical Sciences of the KU Leuven hosts an Integrated Macromolecular Crystallography Facility. Crystallization robotics, purchased with the help of a Hercules grant awarded in 2008, is the main component of this facility. The equipment is most actively used by the labs of Biocrystallography (S. Strelkov) and Structural Neurobiology (C.Ulens). Recently, the interests of additional groups (Switch Lab, Molecular Bacteriology, Medicinal Chemistry, Molecular Virology, Therapeutic Antibodies) have shifted towards crystallography-based research. The requested upgrade encompasses (1) purchase of a new robotic device for automated preparation of crystallization cocktails, (2) installation of a UV camera into an existing crystallization imager, and (3) capacity upgrade of the imager to 320 96-well plates. The upgrade will bring our facility to the latest standards of macromolecular crystallization automation and also increase the throughput of the facility up to the needs of the grown user community.

Keywords:marcomolecular crystallization facility

Disciplines:Macromolecular and materials chemistry