New practical technique for protein crystallization with floating and stirring methods

We previously developed an effective method for growing large, high-quality protein crystals. The method, which we call the floating and stirring technique (FAST), enables us to grow crystals on an insoluble and very dense liquid without contacting the growth vessel, and to stir a protein solution mildly. Our newly designed technique, Micro-FAST, makes FAST suitable for practical use. Micro-FAST enables us to reduce the sample volume and is applied to the vapor diffusion technique. Crystals grown by Micro-FAST demonstrated excellent X-ray diffraction with high resolution.