This technology is a PDMS-based microfluidic chip for automated sample preparation that can be used for single-molecule time-resolved cryo-EM.
Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is a method to determine the structure of biological molecules with high resolution. In time-resolved cryo-EM, the structures of molecules are determined at various stages of a reaction. However, methods to perform cryo-EM are manual, and some reactions proceed too quickly, preventing the intermediate structures from being determined. Sample preparation and loading in particular slow down the process of cryo-EM.
This technology is a PDMS-based microfluidic chip that can be used to determine intermediate molecular structures in rapid reactions. The chip integrates a mixer, a reaction channel, and a microsprayer to mix reactants quickly and effectively and to generate a consistent thickness on a cryo-EM grid. The chip design can be modified to accommodate reactions of various lengths.
This technology has been validated with various reactions, including the association reaction of the 70S ribosome by mixing 30S ribosomal and 50S ribosomal subunit.
Patent Pending
IR CU19167
Licensing Contact: Kristin Neuman
