Development of a Microfluidic Chip for Protein Crystallization by the Microbatch Method

A composite microfluidic chip (MFC), which comprises a technological system for protein crystal growth followed by X-ray crystallography, was developed. Crystallization tests were performed using chicken egg-white lysozyme, aminotransferase from Methanococcus vannielii, and esterase PMGL2 from the permafrost metagenomic library. Materials (borosilicate glass and poly(methyl methacrylate)) for MFC fabrication were compared. The use of poly(methyl methacrylate) was shown to allow comparative in situ X-ray crystallography of protein crystals directly in the chip. Investigations and experiments were carried out at the BELOK beamline at the Kurchatov synchrotron radiation source (National Research Centre Kurchatov Institute).