Development of a high-pressure freeze trap method of protein crystals

X射线辐射损伤是高压蛋白质晶体学的一个严重问题，因为该方法使用金刚石对顶砧，并且需要在室温下进行实验。本研究尝试发展一种在高压条件下冷冻蛋白质晶体的新方法。一种新仪器已经研制出来了。然而，我们发现当我们对蛋白质晶体加压时，母液从晶体中渗出，并且在冷冻过程中降低晶体质量。我们无法找到解决此问题的方法。

X-ray radiation damage is a serious problem for the high-pressure protein crystallography, because the method uses a diamond anvil cell and it is necessary to perform experiments at room temperature. In this study, we have tried to develop a new method that makes protein crystals frozen under high-pressure condition. A new apparatus has been developed. However, we found the mother liquid oozes from the crystal when we pressurize protein crystals, and that degrades crystal quality during the freezing process. We could not find a workaround for this problem.