Acquisition of a Crystal Gryphon-LCP Crystallization Robot

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ABSTRACT In response to NOT-GM-22-017, Notice of Availability of Administrative Supplements for Equipment Purchases for NIGMS Awardees, we request the funds to purchase the Crystal Gryphon-LCP Crystallization Robot. Our parent grant aims to establish the structural bases regulating the key steps of protein synthesis: initiation, termination, and ribosome recycling. While several crystal structures of the ribosome in complex with inhibitors have been reported, the mechanisms that underline inhibition of translation factors off the ribosome remain poorly understood. To enable structure determination and speed up as well as decrease the cost of crystallizing our targets, we need a high-throughput crystallization system that can efficiently identify successful crystallization conditions. The requested system offers sufficient high throughput to support not only the Gagnon lab, but also the other x-ray crystallography labs within the Sealy Center for Structural Biology (SCSB), requires minimal sample material, reliably uses either commercial crystallization screening kits (96-well SBS format) or specially created screens, performs optimization using 96-well, 24-well, sitting-drop, or hanging-drop techniques, and adds the capability of microseeding, which is proving essential to our project. In recognition of the broad benefit of this instrument to the structural biology community within UTMB, the SCSB is committing space, long-term maintenance, and staff for operation and user training of the instrument.