Patent Watch: Microfabricated Tools and Crystallization Plates

Join Our Community of Science Lovers!

On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

Microfabricated tools and crystallization plates: Proteins catalyze reactions, shape cells and relay signals through the body. To understand how they work, researchers first figure out proteins' 3-D shape. Part of that process involves crystallizing proteins on rectangular plates with hundreds of individual wells. Current tools for protein crystallization have flaws: tiny tools to manipulate the protein crystals are rigid, vibrate easily and can damage fragile samples. Frustrated with the fuss, physicist Robert Thorne of Cornell University developed new tools and plates.

Patent No. 8,210,057 describes tools formed from plastic film. A gentle curve in the tools lends them strength—they are thin without being floppy. This same strategy is used by leaves and petals in nature, Thorne notes. One of the tools has “fingers” that can bend and gently grip protein crystals. Patent No. 7,666,259 details a new kind of protein crystallization plate, in which wells are replaced by micropatterned film. Drops stick to the surface even when the plate is upside down—held in place by surface tension from printed rings just 25 microns tall. The tools are already on the market, and the plates will be available later this year.

It’s Time to Stand Up for Science

If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.

I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.

If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.

In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can't-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world's best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.

There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you’ll support us in that mission.

Thank you,

David M. Ewalt, Editor in Chief, Scientific American