Macromolecular Structure Group at UCSF Takes Delivery Of A MiTeGen NANUQ Advanced Cryocooling Device

On January 22nd, 2020 the Macromolecular Structure Group at UCSF took delivery of a MiTeGen NANUQ^TM advanced cryocooling device. With the NANUQ^TM installed users at UCSF have access to advanced sample cryocooling for use with their research using crystallography.

In this blog post we share information concerning the Macromolecular Structure Group at UCSF and we explain in more detail about what NANUQ^TM can do for your research and how your lab can take advantage of NANUQ^TM.

Learn About The Macromolecular Structure Group at UCSF

“The Macromolecular Structure Group (MSG) is part of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics in the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. The MSG focuses on the study of macromolecular structure, function, and interactions through the varied research tools of biochemistry and biophysics, including X-ray Crystallography and SAXS, Electron & Light Microscopy, NMR, Mass Spectrometry, and Molecular Biology.”

“The MSG Crystallography & SAXS Facility at UCSF is currently utilized by over one hundred graduate students and post-docs from thirty-one independent research groups representing seven departments at UCSF.” Source

Learn more about the The Macromolecular Structure Group at UCSF.

NANUQ^TM aT UCSFs Macromolecular Structure Group

We asked James Fraser of Fraser Lab (one of the labs at MSG) concerning how MSG learned about NANUQ and what compelled MSG to acquire NANUQ.

1. How did MSG learn about NANUQ? -

“James Holton (who directs our beamline) and I learned about the NANUQ from Rob Thorne (Founder of MiTeGen) when it was in prototype stage. We have been very jealous of the capability and wanted to find a way to bring it nearer to our beamline at the Advanced Light Source.”

2. What compelled MSG to choose NANUQ?

“We were interested in three aspects:

1) controlling isomorphism by reproducible cooling (in particular for James Holton's projects looking at native element phasing and pushing the limits on detectors).

2) improving the sample handling experience for all projects at MSG (by making it easier to optimize cryo protectants, load into pucks)

3) integrating it into a high throughput soaking pipeline”

Learn More About MiTeGens NANUQ^TM Advanced Cryocooling Device For Biomolecular CryoCrystallography

Our MiTeGens NANUQ^TM advanced cryocooling device is designed to alleviate the problems associated with hand plunging of crystals in Biomolecular CryoCrystallography. NANUQ^TM allows crystallographers to achieve good crystals through its protocol that maximizes data quality, maximizes throughput, minimizes crystal-to-crystal variability, and minimizes risks of crystal contamination, damage and loss.

By replacing hand plunging of your crystals with NANUQs^TM cryocooling process you’ll:

• Have Controllable and Reproducible Cryocooling
• Eliminate Cryoprotectant & Ice
• Improve Your Diffraction & Reduce Mosaicity
• Protect Your Crystals with Automated Puck Filling

Learn More About The Advantages Of NANUQ^TM

You can learn more about NANUQ and its advantages by browsing the resources below.

• Learn More Details About Our NANUQ^TM Advanced Cryocooling Device
• Learn How You Can Try NANUQ^TM Yourself at our NANUQ^TM Access Facility in Ithaca, NY
• Watch Video How to Improve Crystal Diffraction with Optimized Cryocooling to understand the concepts behind NANUQ^TM

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