New way of studying the tiniest microcrystals
Unlocking the mysteries of microcrystals can be a huge challenge for scientists. But a European team led by scientists from DESY – a German national research centre composed of a series of particle accelerators – have now used Diamond Light Source to develop a new type of sample holder in which several thousand microcrystals can be positioned on a single silicon chip at the same time and then be examined by crystallographic methods. Scientists crystallise biological molecules such as proteins or viruses, and then use X-ray crystallography to visualise their atomic structure allowing us to understand how they function. Many of these structures are essential to understanding biological processes and developing new types of drugs. However, obtaining crystals can be difficult and time consuming.