Instruments and Equipment

Structural Biology Core

Crystallization & optimization

Crystallization robots (Phoenix and NT8)
The Phoenix and NT8 liquid handlers dispense both large and small drop volumes for crystallization setup. Trials are prepared in 96-well, 3-drop Intelli-Plates and 384-well clear polystyrene plates (hanging drop), using common sparse-matrix and other commercial screens.

Custom formulators (Formulator and NT8)
Expansion and optimization screens are prepared on the Formulator or NT8 from primary precipitant solutions and stock buffers, allowing custom grids tailored to each project.

Automated plate imaging & storage (Rock Imager)
Two temperature-controlled Rock Imager systems — one at 20 °C and one at 4 °C — store and automatically image crystallization plates on a scheduled basis. When a system reaches capacity, the oldest 20% of plates are automatically transferred to the adjoining storage room.

Opentrons OT-2 liquid handler
A flexible, Python-programmable liquid-handling robot programmed in-house to prepare focused crystallization optimization screens and to run small-scale, magnetic-bead–based protein purification.

Protein expression & production

Bacterial, insect/baculoviral, and mammalian culture
Bacterial shaker-incubators with associated large-scale centrifuges support high-density expression. A dedicated mammalian culture room houses clean hoods, incubators, a microscope, centrifuges, and cell counters, supporting insect/baculoviral and mammalian expression.

Protein purification

Protein purification systems (FPLC)
Four ÄKTA FPLC systems, running specialized software for high-throughput serial and tandem purification schemes. (Small-scale, bead-based purification is also available on the OT-2 — see above.)

Biophysical characterization

Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC)
A TA Nano affinity ITC with autosampler for binding and affinity measurements, supporting up to eight standard runs per day.