A couple of ways of shipping RT crystals: We would mount in capillaries, seal the ends with wax, then Duco cement or fingernail polish. Be aware that ambient air pressure will change alot during the shipping process, so the plugs could be compromised. I would take a box of pipetteman (or your favoriate dispensor) blue-tips and use that for holding the capillaries. That gives you 96 tips for 96 capillaries in a small format that fits in a styrofoam shipping container. Put a small wad of Kimwipe tissue in each blue tip first, so that the capillary does not jam itself down in the conical part of the blue-tip. One can label each blue-tip by writing on it. The box lid will keep the capillaries from coming out of the tips.
Another possibility is used by Rigaku now to ship crystals at RT. Grow the crystals in hanging drops with agar in the reservoir solution and less agar in the drop solution. The well solution will be solid, but vapor diffusion still works. The drops will be semi-solid and won't fall off nor mix with the reservoir nor will the crystals be able to leave the the drop despite rough handling. Ship the plates. This will require mounting at the synchrotron. Mounting from agar-stiffed drops is tricky, so practice at home. I can imagine a combination of the above where one mounts in capillaries or even the MiTeGen RT system with a little agar in the mounting solution to help make things sticky. And since I mentioned the MiTeGen RT system, one can mount at room temperature easily with this system and ship the crystals on pins on bases in cryovials at RT. An issue would be the lack of viscosity of the solutions, so once again, I would use agar in the solution used in the capillary and let it "stiffen." The crystals won't stick to the plastic MiTeGen bits because they are so hydrophobic, so a swish through a bit of "mounting buffer" that you have worked out that has some agar or other sticky bit in it might be needed. Or perhaps dab some of this homemade "glue" on the loop after picking it up from the growth drop. Be sure to remove excess. Or dust the mounted crystal with powdered agar. Be sure to remove excess. Work on this beforehand. Although I have not done it, I wonder if cross-linking crystals to the loop or plastic with glutaraldehye in the vapor phase (you all know the reference) would be something to try. Or maybe something like a dab of PoliDent. Hmmm, it seems I have outlined some nice projects for a summer high school intern. Please put my name on the paper! :) Good luck and please report back what worked! (Even if it was driving to the beamline.) Jim 6. Shipping crystals for RT data collection (3) > Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2016 14:42:55 -0500 > From: Ricardo Padua <[email protected]> > Subject: Shipping crystals for RT data collection > > Hi all, > > I'm looking for a way to ship crystals for room temperature data > collection. > > I want to ship them already mounted on loops with capillaries, not in drops > like the In situ trays from Mitegen. > > Any experiences on that? > > Thanks > > > -- > Ricardo Padua > HHMI Postdoctoral fellow > Kern Lab > Brandeis University > Waltham, MA > >
