Formulatrix Automated Protein Crystallization System

描述（由申请人提供）：NIH对结构基因组学的承诺正在推动自动化结晶新工具的开发。但是自动化也会对传统的、问题驱动的晶体学产生重大影响。在这里，我们建议为加州大学洛杉矶分校的生物研究界购买一个自动结晶系统。该系统将包括(1)一个用于生成筛选试剂的Formulatrix Tecan Evo-150液体处理机器人；(2)用于设置结晶试验的Mosquito纳米瓶点胶机器人；(3)一台Formulatrix Rock Imager自动显微镜，用于快速成像试验结果。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The commitment of NIH to structural genomics is driving the development of new tools to automate crystallization. But automation can also have a major impact on traditional, problem driven crystallography. Here we propose the purchase of an automated crystallization system for the biological research community at UCLA. The system will consist of (1) a Formulatrix Tecan Evo-150 liquid handling robot for the generation of screening reagents; (2) a Mosquito nanoliter dispensing robot for setting up crystallization trials; and (3) a Formulatrix Rock Imager automated microscope for rapidly imaging the trial results. Success of this grant application will trigger commitments from UCLA that will allow us to create a macromolecular crystallization facility for the campus. In particular, UCLA has set aside a laboratory to house the facility and will provide funds to renovate it. They will also provide salary support to hire a facility manager. Thus, this equipment grant will be the catalyst for creating a new facility at UCLA that will serve our growing needs in structure determination. The facility will not only serve the 5 major and 11 minor users on this grant application, but will be open to anyone on the UCLA campus. The crystallization system will have major benefits for our NIH funded research projects: Cost reduction: The expense of crystallization trial set ups will be reduced by roughly 75% because we will (1) purchase supplies in bulk; (2) have lower labor costs; and (3) no longer buy commercial screens. Increased productivity: Productivity will be enhanced because (1) the nanoliter dispensing robot dramatically reduces the amount of protein needed, making poorly expressed targets accessible to crystallization; (2) automation will facilitate the use of larger screens, improving the chances of success; and (3) automation will eliminate the time consuming and intellectually numbing task of crystallization trial setups, freeing our lab members to do other useful work.