mosquito® LCP

mosquito^® LCP is the ultimate tool for membrane protein crystallization. It overcomes the common problems encountered with accurately dispensing the highly viscous lipidic cubic phase (LCP) mixture used in membrane protein crystallization. It allows you to fully automate LCP set-ups accurately and repeatedly.

mosquito LCP allows you to dispense lipidic cubic phase (LCP) volumes as low as 25 nL, while automated calibration of syringe and pipette positioning ensures precise drop-on-drop placement to facilitate downstream automated imaging. It combines an automated syringe dispenser and the mosquito pipetting head (as used in mosquito Xtal3) into one compact crystallization robot capable of highly accurate, precise and rapid automated plate set-ups.

SPT Labtech also offers additional components to enhance your membrane protein crystallization drop setting, such as an active humidity chamber to control relative humidity and also an automated mixer for preparing the LCP.

The benefits of mosquito LCP include:

• versatility – ability to set up both LCP and all traditional protein crystallization experiments with just one instrument
• zero cross contamination – use of disposable mosquito tips for screening additions offering guaranteed zero cross-contamination
• accuracy and precision – extremely accurate and precise pipetting in the 25 nL – 1,200 nL range
• LCP drop accuracy – automated calibration of syringe plus accurate pipette positioning to ensure precise drop-on-drop placement
• flexibility of sample type – precise pipetting across a wide range of liquid viscosities with no format change required
• speed of set up – rapid tip changing and no washing
• negligible evaporation of the dispensed lipidic cubic phase (LCP) rapid dispensing of screen solutions
• compatibly – both LCP and traditional crystallization experiments can be set up in commercially available SBS-format plates

mosquito LCP can be used for the following applications:

• automation of membrane protein crystallization screening, optimisation and scale-up using techniques such as LCP and bicelles
• automation of plate set-up for all standard crystallization techniques:
• sitting drop
• hanging drop
• microbatch (under-oil)
• Microseeding
• additive/fragment screening
• soaking experiments