This paper reports a novel micro-fluidic platform for carving protein crystal with electrically driven high-speed mono-dispersed micro-bubble jet. This minimally invasive micro-processing method overcomes the difficulties of processing, holding and positioning fragile material such as protein crystal underwater. The combination of using electrically-induced micro-bubble knife and microfluidic channel provide effective carving of protein crystal by ablation crystal and draining of chips by free vortex flow in microchannel. Three-dimensional positioning of crystal was sufficiently achieved by the configuration of effective micro-fluidic channels. The protein crystal can be carved to the desired shape to fit to X-ray analysis effectively. It seemed that it has potential to contribute to more precise protein analysis

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

This paper investigated the mechanism of the condensation of protein molecules on air-liquid interface of bubbles. Electrically charged bubbles were confirmed to have clear advantage of producing protein crystal over general bubbles or conventional vapor diffusion method for the first time. The adsorption force between the protein molecular and air-liquid interface of bubble was successfully measured using force sensing optical tweezers. These findings contribute to the effective production of protein crystal and to the protein crystallography.