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Title: Electrospray sample injection for single-particle imaging with x-ray lasers

Journal Article · · Science Advances
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [4];  [5]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [5];  [6]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [4];  [4]; ORCiD logo [4];  [4]; ORCiD logo [4];  [4];  [7]; ORCiD logo [8] more »; ORCiD logo [9]; ORCiD logo [10];  [11];  [12];  [11]; ORCiD logo [13];  [4];  [11];  [11]; ORCiD logo [11]; ORCiD logo [14];  [15];  [11];  [16];  [11]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [17]; ORCiD logo [18]; ORCiD logo [19] « less
  1. Uppsala Univ., Uppsala (Sweden); European XFEL GmbH, Schenefeld (Germany)
  2. Uppsala Univ., Uppsala (Sweden); Oxford Univ., Oxford (United Kingdom); Refeyn Ltd., Oxford (United Kingdom)
  3. Uppsala Univ., Uppsala (Sweden); National Univ. of Singapore (Singapore)
  4. Uppsala Univ., Uppsala (Sweden)
  5. Uppsala Univ., Uppsala (Sweden); KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm (Sweden)
  6. La Trobe Univ., Melbourne, VIC (Australia)
  7. Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague (Czech Republic)
  8. Osaka Univ., Osaka (Japan); Hiroshima Univ., Hiroshima (Japan)
  9. Uppsala Univ., Uppsala (Sweden); Utrecht Univ., Utrecht (Netherlands)
  10. National Univ. of Singapore (Singapore)
  11. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
  12. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
  13. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Leibniz Univ. Hannover, Hannover (Germany)
  14. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
  15. Technische Univ. Berlin, Berlin (Germany)
  16. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  17. Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague (Czech Republic); Chalmers Univ. of Technology, Gothenburg (Sweden)
  18. Uppsala Univ., Uppsala (Sweden); Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic; Prague (Czech Republic)
  19. Uppsala Univ., Uppsala (Sweden); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

The possibility of imaging single proteins constitutes an exciting challenge for x-ray lasers. Despite encouraging results on large particles, imaging small particles has proven to be difficult for two reasons: not quite high enough pulse intensity from currently available x-ray lasers and, as we demonstrate here, contamination of the aerosolized molecules by nonvolatile contaminants in the solution. The amount of contamination on the sample depends on the initial droplet size during aerosolization. Here, we show that, with our electrospray injector, we can decrease the size of aerosol droplets and demonstrate virtually contaminant-free sample delivery of organelles, small virions, and proteins. The results presented here, together with the increased performance of next-generation x-ray lasers, constitute an important stepping stone toward the ultimate goal of protein structure determination from imaging at room temperature and high temporal resolution.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division; Swedish Research Council (SRC); Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation; European Research Council (ERC); European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); Wellcome Trust; Volkswagen Foundation
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515; AC02-06CH11357; SC0012704
OSTI ID:
1532400
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1559029; OSTI ID: 1571429
Report Number(s):
BNL-212202-2019-JAAM
Journal Information:
Science Advances, Vol. 5, Issue 5; ISSN 2375-2548
Publisher:
AAASCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 33 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (10)

Megahertz single-particle imaging at the European XFEL journal May 2020
Plasma channel formation in NIR laser-irradiated carrier gas from an aerosol nanoparticle injector journal June 2019
A guide to sample delivery systems for serial crystallography journal August 2019
Megahertz single-particle imaging at the European XFEL text January 2020
A statistical approach to detect protein complexes at X-ray free electron laser facilities journal December 2018
Ultracompact 3D microfluidics for time-resolved structural biology journal January 2020
The role of transient resonances for ultra-fast imaging of single sucrose nanoclusters journal January 2020
Ultracompact 3D microfluidics for time-resolved structural biology text January 2020
Fabrication of Polymeric Microparticles by Electrospray: The Impact of Experimental Parameters journal January 2020
Ultracompact 3D microfluidics for time-resolved structural biology text January 2020

Figures / Tables (6)