Scientists are developing new sample holders for tiny microcrystals
Wednesday, June 3, 2015 - 08:40
in Physics & Chemistry
Researchers of DESY, the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland and the Diamond Light Source in Great Britain have developed a new type of sample holder for so-called serial protein crystallography. The holder consists of a single crystal of silicon with a regular array of pores and allows tiny crystals to be positioned with great precision, while at the same time producing virtually no disruptive signal of its own during X-ray analysis, something that is unavoidable using conventional methods. The researchers are presenting their development in the latest edition of the journal Scientific Reports.