help! condensation on coverslips

[karenneedham]

I need hints for preventing condensation on the cover slips for hanging drop crystallography. I've already tried setting up the whole plate in the cold room (brrrr!).

[miss deane]

Hi,

Im new here. I also involve in protein crystallography.
I've tried the hanging drop method. The condensation happen because of the different of temperature in your setup well and the surrounding.. what's exactly your incubation temperature for your protein crystal?
Let say you want to perform your crystallization experiment at 4C, it can be done at room temperature as well. The samples and solutions are pre-equilibrated at 4C and crystallization tray placed on ice. When the drops have been set up, the tray is transferred to a 4C incubator or cold room. The idea is to avoid a rapid change in temperature with the sealed crystallization experiment plate. Another thing, whenever you examine your crystal drop under a microscope, do not expose your drop too long to the light, as the light can transfer the heat to your drop. This also can contribute to the condensation to occur. This problem always happen to hanging drop as the condensation drop will merge with your crystal drop.. Hope these will help..

[ted9999]

I did [Only registered users see links. ] on my blog about this exact issue, hopefully it will answer all your questions.