The Open AUC Project

Abstract

Progress in analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC) has been hindered by obstructions to hardware innovation and by software incompatibility. In this paper, we announce and outline the Open AUC Project. The goals of the Open AUC Project are to stimulate AUC innovation by improving instrumentation, detectors, acquisition and analysis software, and collaborative tools. These improvements are needed for the next generation of AUC-based research. The Open AUC Project combines on-going work from several different groups. A new base instrument is described, one that is designed from the ground up to be an analytical ultracentrifuge. This machine offers an open architecture, hardware standards, and application programming interfaces for detector developers. All software will use the GNU Public License to assure that intellectual property is available in open source format. The Open AUC strategy facilitates collaborations, encourages sharing, and eliminates the chronic impediments that have plagued AUC innovation for the last 20 years. This ultracentrifuge will be equipped with multiple and interchangeable optical tracks so that state-of-the-art electronics and improved detectors will be available for a variety of optical systems. The instrument will be complemented by a new rotor, enhanced data acquisition and analysis software, as well as collaboration software. Described here are the instrument, the modular software components, and a standardized database that will encourage and ease integration of data analysis and interpretation software.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00249-009-0438-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Determination of the Surfactant Density on SWCNTs by Analytical Ultracentrifugation

“…The design and the operating software (written in LabVIEW) are open source, as part of the Open-AUC work group. [43] The SWCNT samples in SC and SDBS in water and deuterated water were prepared as follows: HiPco SWCNTs (0.1 g L À1 ) and CoMoCAT SWCNTs (0.2 g L À1 ) were added to a few mL of the surfactant solution (10 g L À1 ) and dispersed with the aid of a bath sonicator (150 W, 30 min). Coarse aggregates were removed by mild centrifugation at 15 krpm (Sigma 4 K15).…”

Analytical ultracentrifugation of colloids

“…53 The ''Open AUC Project'' includes the CFA instrument, modular software components, and a standardized database, all of which are open source, encouraging further development and user customizations. This new instrument should allow the user to plug and play detection systems at will.…”

The Effect of Centrifugal Force on the Assembly and Crystallization of Binary Colloidal Systems: Towards Structural Gradients

“…The concentration of the sample for the determination of the particle size distribution was 10 −4 g mL −1 . A UV/Vis multi-wavelength analytical ultracentrifuge [63,64] developed as an open source instrument [65] was also used to determine the particle size distribution. UV/Vis optical spectra were obtained on a Varian Carey 100 spectrometer (Varian).…”