We have both a Phoenix and a Mosquito - for one-subwell 96 well plate both are under 3 minutes from the time you put the first droplet down until you have to seal the plate. The actual protocols take longer (particularly on the Phoenix) as you have to wash, transfer reservoir etc.
We manage to fit in all our grief into that time period, so that we don't add any exposure to the droplets, but get in world-class hand wringing anyways. Janet _____ From: CCP4 bulletin board [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of JOE CRYSTAL Sent: Tuesday, 15 April 2008 7:10 AM To: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] Fwd: [ccp4bb] crystallisation robot Hi, Does anyone have information about how long it takes to set up a 96-well tray for the crystallization robots available? Besides cost per tray and maintenance cost, another important feature we consider is the time for setting up a 96-well tray. It is an important factor since we are talking about sub-microliter drops. Best, Joe On Fri, Jan 18, 2008 at 12:28 PM, Lisa A Nagy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Al's Oil on the plates: What a nightmare!!!!!!! The oil creeps up the plate and over the sides. It dissolves adhesives. It makes me say bad words in multiple languages. Bigger drops + no oil = fewer bad words. Lisa -- Lisa A. Nagy, Ph.D. University of Alabama-Birmingham [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: CCP4 bulletin board [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Patrick Shaw Stewart Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 2:20 AM To: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK Subject: [ccp4bb] Fwd: [ccp4bb] crystallisation robot One thing that people often overlook is that quite a lot of protein can be lost by denaturation on the surface of the drop. This is more significant for smaller drops. Two suggestions: (1) increase the proportion of protein in the - technical term - teeny drop to say two thirds and (2) cover the drops with oil eg Al's oils (silicone/paraffin). You still get vapor diffusion though the oil , and you'd like to slow up equilibration. of course (2) slows up the robotics a little, but both should be trivial to set up..