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Updated: Jul 2, 2025
Improving High Viscosity Extrusion of Microcrystals for Time-resolved Serial Femtosecond Crystallography at X-ray Lasers
Published on: February 28, 2019
Advanced manufacturing provides tailor-made solutions for crystallography with x-ray free-electron lasers
Lars Paulson1, Sankar Raju Narayanasamy2, Megan L Shelby2
1Department of Chemistry & Research and Education in Energy, Environment and Water (RENEW), The State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA.
Advances in 3D printing enhance microfluidics for serial crystallography, enabling efficient handling of protein microcrystals. This facilitates high-resolution structural studies crucial for drug discovery and developing new therapies.
Area of Science:
- Structural Biology
- Biophysics
- Materials Science
Background:
- Serial crystallography is vital for high-resolution protein structure determination.
- Efficient microscale sample handling is a major challenge in serial crystallography.
- Microfluidics offer a solution for high-throughput, flexible sample manipulation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review recent advances in 3D printing for microfluidics in serial crystallography.
- To demonstrate emerging nano-3D printing techniques for sample delivery devices.
Main Methods:
- Discussion of polymer 3D printing for microfluidic devices.
- Demonstration of advanced nano-3D printing for sample environment fabrication.
- Exploration of liquid jet gas-dynamic virtual nozzles and fixed-target sample delivery.
Main Results:
- 3D printing provides design flexibility and rapid prototyping for microfluidic devices.
- Emerging nano-3D printing enables sophisticated sample environment and delivery systems.
- New fabrication methods address challenges in handling protein microcrystals.
Conclusions:
- 3D printing is revolutionizing microfluidics for serial crystallography.
- Advanced 3D printing techniques are paving the way for future innovations in sample delivery.
- These advancements will accelerate protein structure determination and drug discovery.
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