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| Example SONICC capabilities from the Formulatrix website. |
During my research visit in Hamburg in 2018, I had the opportunity to do some crystallization screens and collect data at the PETRA III synchrotron. As part of that project, I had to use a cool instrument by Formulatrix called SONICC to help with these crystallization screens. This instrument accepts 96 well screening plates and uses visible, SHG, and UV imaging to discriminate between salt and protein crystals in each well in only a couple minutes. The principle of operation is really interesting and you can read more about it on the Formulatrix site.
Below are example images from a crystal screen I performed on the phycobiliprotein phycocyanin. The SHG imaging tended to work better than the UV-TPEF, which often suffered from poor contrast even when it was obvious the crystals were from the protein. Normally, it is very difficult to determine whether visible crystals are actually protein or buffer salt, but phycocyanin forms lovely blue crystals that are impossible to mistake.
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| Visible |
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| SHG |
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| UV-TPEF |
Further Reading
- Kissick, D. J.; Wanapun, D.; Simpson, G. J. Second-Order Nonlinear Optical Imaging of Chiral Crystals. Annu Rev Anal Chem 2012, 25.
- Haupert, L. M.; Simpson, G. J. Screening of Protein Crystallization Trials by Second Order Nonlinear Optical Imaging of Chiral Crystals (SONICC). Methods 2011, 55 (4), 379–386. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymeth.2011.11.003.