Microfabricated Mounts for Microcrystal Cryocrystallography: A New Approach to Crystal Mounting and Handling

Zachary Stum, Jan Kmetko, Kevin O’Neill and Robert Thorne,

Cornell University

We have developed an alternative to the current loop technology for manipulating and mounting macromolecular crystals for cryogenic X-ray data collection. Our mounts provide several advantages, including: (1) much easier mounting of crystals in the 10 to 50 micron size range, (2) easier minimization of surrounding liquid, (3) very low X-ray absorption and scattering, (4) much more reproducible crystal positioning, (5) easy customization, (6) inexpensive mass production, and (7) complete compatibility with existing high-throughput systems developed for handling

loop-mounted crystals.