Crystallography

Crystal Farm Imaging System

NEXUS Biosystems has addressed the need for automation tools for growing macromolecular crystals. Screening or optimizing for experimental conditions to form x-ray crystallographic quality crystals of protein or other macromolecules can be laborious and tedious. Hundreds of conditions are typically attempted around each target variation, and experiments can be monitored periodically for weeks or months through a microscope.

NEXUS Biosystems developed the Crystal Farm Imaging System, which stores and images crystal growth in microplates in a temperature and vibration controlled environment. Taking images of all the crystal growth experiments over time solves a crucial bottleneck in crystallography. From Crystal Navigator, an intuitive web based software packages, images are quickly available for rapid-fire observation and scoring, which requires the perusal of all the images for the presence of crystals or precipitate at each of the experimental conditions. Crystal Resolve is a sophisticated image analysis software package created to help save time during the scoring process.

Crystal Farm imaging systems are available in two different configurations. The CF-400 is capable of storing up to 400 SBS plates while the CF-150 can store up to 150 SBS plates. Both share the same high resolution imaging system.