IDBR: TYPE A Precise Manipulation and Patterning of Protein Nanocrystals Using Surface Acoustic Wave Technology

An award is made to SUNY at Stony Brook to develop a device for the precise manipulation and patterning of protein nanocrystals using surface acoustic wave technology. Structural biology impacts virtually all fields of biology and biomedicine. By increasing the efficiency of data collection, this device will decrease the time required to solve crystal structures, conserving precious resources and making it possible to collect data on samples that would be otherwise impractical or impossible. The result will be a major positive impact on every field of biology that makes use of structural data, and the potential for significant advances benefiting human health. This cross-disciplinary work is also an ideal opportunity to provide education and experience to a variety of trainees. Graduate students, undergraduates and high school students involved with this project will learn aspects of engineering and its application to biology. Additional educational components of this work include video demonstrations and tutorials on the use and applications of this technology, the creation of teaching modules to introduce undergraduates to acoustofluidics and the promotion of the participation of under-represented groups by active participation in STEM explorations and diversity-enhancing programs.

The purpose of this device is to manipulate and pattern protein crystals for X-ray crystallography. X-ray crystallography is an extremely powerful and well established technique used to determine the atomic resolution structure of biomolecules from the diffraction of X-rays by crystalline samples. The majority of structures solved by this technique make use of X-rays generated at synchrotron sources or, more recently, by free electron lasers (FELs). Advances in technology at these sources have made possible increasing flux with ever decreasing beam sizes. This is largely driven by the increasing complexity and size of the biomolecular specimens that are being analyzed. Many of the most exciting targets, including protein complexes, membrane proteins and viruses, are extremely difficult to isolate, purify and crystallize. These types of samples, as well as many others, may only yield crystals of a few micrometers or less in size during crystallization trials. While modern X-ray sources make data collection on microcrystals feasible, conventional means of crystal manipulation are inadequate to handle crystals of such small proportions. The device to manipulate and pattern protein nanocrystals will make use of biocompatible surface acoustic wave technology to move fragile crystals of virtually any size. This device, which will be robust, inexpensive to fabricate and easy to implement by non-experts, will significantly improve throughput and vastly decrease sample consumption. The implementation of this device will enable the use of previously intractable samples and broaden the accessibility of micro-focus and serial crystallography.