3D printed microfluidic mixers and nozzles for crystallography
AssigneeArizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University
InventorsAlexandra Ros, Gerrit Brehm, Garrett Nelson, John Spence, Uwe Weierstall, Austin Echelmeier
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Abstract
A 3D printed hybrid nozzle device combining a microfluidic mixer with a liquid jet injector that addresses the bottleneck of investigating substrate-initiated biological reaction paths employing serial crystallography with XFELs. The hybrid nozzle provides for injecting aqueous protein crystal jets after fast mixing (<5 ms), reaching reaction time points (e.g., about 10 ms to about 150 ms) suitable to resolve enzyme kinetics.
Claims19
A system for conducting time-resolved serial femtosecond X-ray crystallography, the system comprising:
- a hybrid nozzle including a microfluidic mixer integrally formed with a liquid jet injector, the hybrid nozzle further including
- a housing;
- a first fluid inlet channel formed in the housing and configured to receive a substrate solution,
- a second fluid inlet channel formed in the housing and configured to receive a crystal suspension, and
- an outlet channel formed in the housing and coaxially formed with the second fluid inlet channel and in fluid communication with the first fluid inlet channel to provide mixing of the substrate solution and the crystal suspension within 1 ms to 5 ms, and
- wherein the mixture is transported to a chamber via the liquid jet injector for crystallographic analysis,
- wherein the first fluid inlet channel includes a first portion having a first diameter, a second portion having a second diameter less than the first diameter, and a third portion having a third diameter less than the first diameter and the second diameter.
A system for conducting time-resolved serial femtosecond X-ray crystallography, the system comprising:
- a hybrid nozzle including a microfluidic mixer integrally formed with a liquid jet injector, the hybrid nozzle further including
- a housing;
- a first fluid inlet channel formed in the housing and configured to receive a substrate solution,
- a second fluid inlet channel formed in the housing and configured to receive a crystal suspension, and
- an outlet channel formed in the housing and coaxially formed with the second fluid inlet channel and in fluid communication with the first fluid inlet channel to provide mixing of the substrate solution and the crystal suspension within 1 ms to 5 ms, and
- wherein the mixture is transported to a chamber via the liquid jet injector for crystallographic analysis, and
- wherein the second fluid inlet channel includes a fourth portion including a fourth diameter, a fifth portion including a gradually-reduced diameter that merges into a second terminal end.
A system for conducting time-resolved serial femtosecond X-ray crystallography, the system comprising:
- a hybrid nozzle including a microfluidic mixer integrally formed with a liquid jet injector, the hybrid nozzle further including
- a housing;
- a first fluid inlet channel formed in the housing and configured to receive a substrate solution,
- a second fluid inlet channel formed in the housing and configured to receive a crystal suspension, and
- an outlet channel formed in the housing and coaxially formed with the second fluid inlet channel and in fluid communication with the first fluid inlet channel to provide mixing of the substrate solution and the crystal suspension within 1 ms to 5 ms, and
- wherein the mixture is transported to a chamber via the liquid jet injector for crystallographic analysis,
- wherein the first fluid inlet channel includes
- a first portion having a first diameter,
- a second portion having a second diameter less than the first diameter,
- a third portion having a third diameter less than the first diameter and the second diameter, and
- a first terminal end,
- wherein the second fluid inlet channel includes
- a fourth portion including a fourth diameter,
- a fifth portion including a gradually-reduced diameter, and
- a second terminal end,
- wherein the outlet channel is configured to receive a first stream of the substrate solution exiting the first terminal end and a second stream of the crystal solution exiting the second terminal end, and
- wherein the outlet channel includes
- a seventh portion having a seventh diameter,
- an eighth portion having an eighth diameter greater than the seventh diameter, and
- a ninth portion having a ninth diameter greater than the eighth diameter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.