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High throughput crystallography is part of SGC’s structural genomics platform. Tens of proteins are moved into crystallization every week at our labs in Toronto and Oxford. Robots, such as the Phoenix from Art Robbins Instruments or the Mosquito from TTP Labtech, are used to set up crystal plates with sub-microliter protein drops. The plates are stored in Robodesign systems, which capture images of the drops at pre-scheduled intervals.
Once crystals are observed, the crystallographers collaborate closely with the biology groups to rapidly screen, assess and optimize them. Screening is primarily carried out using in-house diffractometers from Rigaku and Bruker. Roughly half of our structures are solved using data collected using these instruments. We also collect data at the Diamond Light Source and the Advanced Photon Source.