Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42334838›Full record

ArticleIUCrJ2026

Towards time-resolved MicroED grid preparation using mix-and-inject gas dynamic virtual nozzles.

Jacob A Summers, Niko W Vlahakis, Kara A Zielinski, Sarah Uttormark, Scout Fronhofer, Cole Dolamore, Mark A Wilson, Lois Pollack, Jose A Rodriguez, Peter D Dahlberg and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in IUCrJ, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Jacob A SummersDepartment of Structural Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-3113-0353
Niko W VlahakisDepartment of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
Kara A ZielinskiSchool of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-9907-5058
Sarah UttormarkSchool of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-3027-7882
Scout FronhoferSchool of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
Cole DolamoreDepartment of Biochemistry, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA.
Mark A WilsonDepartment of Biochemistry, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-6317-900X
Lois PollackSchool of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
Jose A RodriguezDepartment of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
Peter D DahlbergDepartment of Structural Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Soichi WakatsukiDepartment of Structural Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.

Funding

The Stanford-SLAC CryoEM CenterR24GM154186 · NIGMS · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · PI Wah Chiu, BRITT HEDMAN · 2024 to 2026
$19.3M
Nucleic acid interactions with partners: ions and proteinsR35GM122514 · NIGMS · CORNELL UNIVERSITY · PI Lois Pollack · 2017 to 2026
$3.8M
Micro Electron Diffraction of Toxic and/or Infectious Macromolecular NanoassembliesR35GM128867 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI Jose Alfonso Rodriguez · 2018 to 2026
$3.1M
Acquisition of a 300 kV Electron Microscope for Structural BiologyS10OD021600 · OD · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · PI CHIU, WAH · 2016 to 2016
$2.0M
Time-resolved structural studies of enzyme catalysis and regulationR35GM153337 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA LINCOLN · PI Mark A. Wilson · 2024 to 2026
$1.0M
Howard Hughes Medical Institute EPINational Science Foundation CHE-2154210National Science Foundation CHE-245339National Science Foundation DGE-1656518National Science Foundation DMR-1548924NIGMS NIH HHS R24 GM154186NIGMS NIH HHS R35 GM122514NIGMS NIH HHS R35 GM128867NIGMS NIH HHS R35 GM153337NIH HHS 1R24GM154186NIH HHS R35GM128867NIH HHS R35GM153337NIH HHS S10 OD021600NIH HHS S10-OD021600SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory DE-AC02-76SF00515U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Air Force FA9550-23-1-0281U.S. Department of Energy DE-FC02-02ER63421
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Recent progress in gas dynamic virtual nozzle (GDVN) technologies in combination with high-brilliance synchrotron and X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) has allowed the visualization of protein dynamics in crystallo by mixing macromolecular protein crystals with a substrate using tunable mixing times on the order of milliseconds to seconds prior to serial X-ray diffraction data collection. This has become the method of choice for high-resolution structure determination of intermediate states. However, such experiments require large counts of crystals of proper sizes for high-resolution data collection, and premium beam times for screening efforts. Cryogenic microcrystal electron diffraction (MicroED) represents a complementary technique that may be a more accessible avenue for time-resolved nanocrystallography compared with serial X-ray diffraction experiments. MicroED can produce full diffraction datasets from just a few submicrometre-thick crystals, and the approach is more readily accessible, requiring standard cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (TEM) equipment available at many universities and institutes. Cryogenic MicroED, like other forms of cryo-EM, begins with rapidly freezing biological material on electron microscopy grids. In the case of MicroED, micro- to nano-crystals (<500 nm thick) are deposited onto electron microscopy grids and plunge-frozen for subsequent electron diffraction data collection. Here, we have incorporated GDVN technology developed originally for XFEL experiments into the freezing process as a first step towards time-resolved studies. We describe the limited deposition efficiency of the model MicroED protein proteinase K on TEM grids using GDVNs, preceding sample vitrification and successful MicroED data collection. We discuss both the initial results from such experiments and the methodological challenges in developing this approach into a reliable workflow for millisecond-to-second time-resolved structural studies of macromolecules. Our results promise a strategy to deposit crystals on grids using GDVNs and determine high-resolution structures by MicroED, constituting a first step towards development of time-resolved MicroED experiments.

Indexed as

gas dynamic virtual nozzleMicroEDproteinase Ktime-resolved studies

Identifiers

PMID42334838
PMCPMC13324615

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.