We’ve distilled 20 years’ experience in building protein crystallization robots and the proven technologies of the current Oryx - and the original IMPAX range of machines - into one affordable Vapor Diffusion screening robot.

Using our latest generation of software with new techniques for reducing evaporation OryxNano delivers 96 Vapor Diffusion drops in less than 10 minutes in drops as small as 0.1 + 0.1µl while using as little as 9.79µl of protein.

 Advanced features:

• Ability to dispense multiple drops of one protein to multi-drop plates
• Ability to dispense multiple proteins to multi-drop plates
• Seeding experiments
• Barcode support
   

Download the OryxNano Datasheet (196KB)
 

1. Hardware

OryxNano is driven by a PC, which is connected to a stepper motor drive box (MCC). This drives 4 motorized syringes mounted at the back of the chassis, and the XYZ Plate Loader, which has a moving table and arm.

      ·        Small volumes are dispensed from a two, three or four-bore microtip.

·        Stock solutions do not come into contact with the motorized syringes, which are filled with degassed pure water - this avoids the need for flushing out the syringes when the stock solutions are changed. 

·        The manual syringes on the front panel are used to refill the motorized syringes, to remove air bubbles, and to flush microtips

2. What it does

Sitting Drop Crystallization

Oryx can rapidly dispense the droplets into trays such as CrystalClear, Cryschem, Greiner or Corning plates for sitting drop crystallization.  One channel of a 2-bore microtip is loaded with protein at the start of the experiment, then, for each well, reservoir solution is picked up with the other bore and transferred to the droplet.  Protein is dispensed at the same time as the reservoir solution and can be mixed by stirring.

Multi-drop plates can be dispensed with differing proportions of protein.  Alternatively three different proteins can be dispensed. A sliding evaporation shield covers and protects the drops during the time that it takes to dispense the experiment.
 

Seeding Experiments

Sitting drop experiments can be dispensed where a small volume of seeding solution is added to every drop.  The seeding solution is sucked up from a PCR tube on the table (in the same way as protein).  A three-bore microtip is used - channel 1 contains protein, channel 2 seeding solution, and channel 3 is used to transfer the reservoir solution from the reservoir to the drop.
 

Microbatch Experiments

OryxNano is not designed for microbatch crystallization.