Cat whiskers individually epoxied to a small wooden stick. Trim the cat whiskers to obtain the stiffness to break the skin. Use them in tandem to remove the skin.
Typically they are flexible enough to not harm your crystals unless they are really high in solvent content and extremely soft. Good luck, Chris -- Christopher L. Colbert, Ph.D. Pronouns: he/him/his Professor Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY QBB 346 Dept 2710, P.O. Box 6050 Fargo, ND 58108-6050 phone: 701.231.7946 fax: 701.231.8324 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> From: CCP4 bulletin board <[email protected]> on behalf of Tom Peat <[email protected]> Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2025 at 5:00 PM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] Skin around crystal Since I cut the plastic plate seal over the crystals, I have a scalpel on hand, so I do something similar to what Pat has suggested but use the scalpel to cut around the crystal (also nervy). I also take a little bit of the reservoir solution (maybe 1 microlitre) and lay that over the top. This sometimes helps loosen or partially dissolve the skin, and as our drops tend to be 200 nanolitres, it also gives me a bit more working time before everything dries out. Best of luck, Tom ________________________________ From: CCP4 bulletin board <[email protected]> on behalf of Patrick Loll <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2025 7:46 AM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] Skin around crystal You don't often get email from [email protected]. Learn why this is important<https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification> I’ve used two fine needles, pinning the skin down with one needle and dragging the other past the crystal so as to tear away some of the skin. It’s a nerve-wracking business. Pat __________________________ Patrick J. Loll, PhD (he, him, his) Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Drexel University College of Medicine Room 10-102 New College Building 245 N. 15th St. Philadelphia, PA 19102-1192 USA (215) 762-7706 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> On Sep 16, 2025, at 4:57 PM, amit gaur <[email protected]> wrote: Hi everyone, I am facing a problem during crystal freezing. My crystals are surrounded by skin and not separating from skin during crystal mounting. It seems that crystals are embedded in the skin. Has anyone experienced a similar situation and handled this situation? Dr. Amit Gaur, Department of Biomedical Science, College of Medicine, Florida State University, 1115 W Call St, Tallahassee, FL,32304 ________________________________ To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 ________________________________ To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 This email and any files transmitted with it may contain confidential information. If you believe you have received this email or any of its contents in error, please notify me immediately by return email and destroy this email. Do not use, disseminate, forward, print or copy any contents of an email received in error. ________________________________ To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the CCP4BB list, click the following link: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CCP4BB&A=1 This message was issued to members of www.jiscmail.ac.uk/CCP4BB, a mailing list hosted by www.jiscmail.ac.uk, terms & conditions are available at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/
