TAPE DRIVE TD-1

CONTINUOUS feeding of MICRO-
CRYSTALS into the X-ray beam

Low background serial crystallography & chemical mixing experiment

In serial crystallography with a tape drive, a thin line of a micro-crystal suspension is continuously written onto a thin moving Mylar- or Kapton foil tape. The tape is constantly moving and thereby transporting the microcrystals into the X-ray beam, where diffraction patterns of them are recorded.

Using the serial crystallography approach, diffraction patterns from hundreds to thousands of microcrystals can be merged to yield a complete dataset for structure refinement.

The tape drive is ideally suited for chemical mixing experiments or laser pump probe experiments where larger amounts of protein crystals are availalbe

TD-1 operating Principle

A line of microcrystals is "written" onto a continuously moving Mylar or Kapton tape (yellow) through a capillary (blue)
The tape (yellow) is spooled from a passive supply roller through the interaction region onto an active stepper motor driver receiving roller
The tape continuously transports the microcrystals into the beam
An additional motorized blotting tape (white) allows the efficient removal of mother liquor

low Background scattering

user-friendly Operation

The TD-1 software in combination with our SC-1 controller allows coordinated operation of all devices, including TD-1, AS-1 and TD-1-RTU
Touchscreen operated graphical user interface allows selection of experimental parameters such as flow rate, sample tape speed, blotting tape speed, tape drive rotation and alignment of TD-1 with respect to the X-ray beam
Ethernet connectivity and REST API allows easy integration with existing control system

DESIGN COncept

“Breadboard-like” design allows custom configuration of tape rollers, tape guide pins and tape tensioner
Compact dimensions allow easy integration to existing experimental environments
Easy exchange of tape rollers due to magnetic mounting
Use of industry standard 2-Phase stepper motors allows easy integration into existing control systems
Optional controller SC-1 with touchscreen integrates seamlessly into existing control systems via ethernet

Anti-settling device AS-1

Using conventional motorized syringe pumps, small differences in the density between the crystals and the crystal growth solution lead to settling of the crystals in the syringe
To avoid crystal setting, our AS-1 contains two motorized syringe pumps which are continuously rotated by +/- 150 degrees to prevent settling of the crystals
Generates a steady flow of a microcrystal suspension with flow rates from 10 nl/min to 160 µl/min
Well suited for sample delivery with liquid jet systems or with our tape drive TD-1
Compatible with 250 µl and 500 µl standard glass syringes from commercial vendors

Tape drive rotation and translation unit TD-1-RTU

Preferred orientation, in particular of plate-like and needle-shaped crystals, often leads to incomplete diffraction data in serial crystallography experiments with a tape drive
Our TD-1-RTU allows motorized rotation of the entire tape drive by +/- 35 degrees in horizontal direction with respect to the incident X-ray beam to yield more complete datasets
Motorized xyz-translation allows in-situ alignment of the setup in the X-ray beam and selection of the mixing time by horizontal translation

Integration into the suna ecosystem

Ideally used in combination with our motorized syringe pump SP-1 (link) and anti-settling device AS-1 and our controller SC-1
Compatible with our on-axis sample viewing microscopes OM-1 and OM-2 for visualization and laser excitation of the sample
Easy integration with the roadrunner goniometer