The results of crystallization trials need to be scored. Many drops will not give crystals so the length of the largest crystal cannot be used to score such drops. Instead, a numerical score that ranks the drop from being clear through denatured precipitant to various forms of semi-crystalline material to large single crystals needs to be used. The scores range from 0 to 20. For statistical purposes, having an odd number score range is useful.
This score increases with increasing value of the crystal for diffraction studies. Single crystals that grow in fuse clusters have lower scores than single crystals of the same length that have grown individually. This is because you do not know in advance the length of the crystal that you will be able to tease out from the cluster when mounting a crystal for diffraction studies. As a result, these fused crystals are of lower value to us than isolated single crystals.
We assume that larger crystals diffract to higher resolution because they have greater scattering volume. Of course, this assumes that the crystal does not contain a significant amount of internal disorder that would dampen diffraction. We also assume the crystal has not been damaged by cryoprotection.
Four of these keys have been printed per page. The idea is to cut out the individual keys and tape them into one's laboratory notebook. It is most convenient to tape the key on the same page as the design for the crystallization experiment or on the same page as the scoring sheet. We usually have the design on the left page and the scoring sheet on the facing right page. Having the score key nearby negates the need to look it up; this saves time.
The tex file used to generate the PDF using LaTeX is included.
- NIH: R01 CA242845
- NIH: R01 AI088011
- NIH: P30 CA225520 (PI: R. Mannel)
- NIH: P20 GM103640 and P30 GM145423 (PI: A. West)
| Version | Changes | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Version 0.1 | Iniated repo. Added badges, funding, and update table. | 2024 July 19 |