Who designs and manufactures the Crystal Shifter®?
Crystal Shifter® is designed and manufactured by Oxford Lab Technologies Ltd
What is Crystal Shifter® used for?
Crystal Shifter® is used in protein fragment screening and crystallization. It automates everyday tasks and improves the quality of experiments. Crystal Shifter® is valuable for labs processing a few crystals per week or hundreds per hour.
Features of Crystal Shifter®
- Experiment preparation
- Harvesting using different protocols
- Soaking and fishing in both sitting and hanging drop scenarios
- Imaging crystals, including full plate imaging and crystal scoring
- Built-in protocols for common protocols like crystal soaking, distributions, transfers, and dip soaking
- Automatic recording of outcomes
- Automatic mapping of pucks, pins, and crystal IDs
- Integration with other equipment and software
Benefits of Crystal Shifter®
- Increased efficiency and automation of experiments
- Improved quality of experiments
- Time-saving features for complex routine tasks
- Automatic data recording and crystallographic mapping
- Integrates with other equipment and software
What MiTeGen products work with Crystal Shifter®
- Our MiTeGen NANUQ can be combined with Crystal Shifter® for "Fragment screening and HTS can be pseduo-automated using the Oxford Lab Technology Crystal Shifter (Shifter) and the NANUQ." Learn more at UCSF Macromolecular Structure Group
- Other MiTeGen products that can be combined with the Crystal Shifter® include:
Frequently Asked Questions
- Who is Crystal Shifter for?
Crystal Shifter is used by leading crystallography labs across the world. Customers include research laboratories at leading Pharmaceutical, Biotech, Synchrotron beamline, and Academic organisations.
- Is Crystal Shifter hardware or software?
Crystal Shifter is not just a hardware device. The Crystal Shifter software is cutting edge suite of applications that covers all common workflows in small and larger laboratories. All experiment data is recorded and integrated across popular equipment and beamlines. The software has been designed by crystallographers for crystallographers – and has been tried and tested in many different labs worldwide.
- What Microscopes are supported? Can you provide a microscope?
Most popular brands and models of microscopes used in crystallography are supported. MiTeGen can also provide a compatible microscope to your lab as well a suggested configuration of microscopes.
- What maintenance is required for Shifter devices?
Once the device is set-up to Customer’s needs the Customer will have to keep device clean and dust free. Customised hardware maintenance, warranty, and support are available on request.
- What should I know before considering purchase of Shifter device?
We recommend arranging a Shifter Demo (please use the contact form over on the right) or talking to a current user of the Shifter device.
- What else will I need to operate Shifter?
The Crystal Shifter has been designed for use with a Touch-Screen PC and you will also need a Microscope. You may want to order a microscope camera for taking images with Crystal Shifter, or a barcode reader to fully automate your workflow. We can provide these additional components on request.
Crystal Shifter integrates with some of the popular lab instruments (e.g. imagers, databases, dispensers, foot/hand controllers, barcode readers, cameras, etc). Please get in touch with us to discuss integration with other equipment and accessories. We can also provide technical detail/specifications on request to aid purchase of any accessories or compatible equipment.
- Can I use Crystal Shifter for imaging hanging drop plates?
Yes – Crystal Shifter can perform imaging for both sitting and hanging drop plates. The imaging feature requires having a compatible microscope camera.
- What Plates can I use with Shifter?
Crystal Shifter is designed for 96 well 3-drop “midi” plates in mind, however Shifter supports all popular crystallographic sitting drop plates of similar dimensions. Shifter can accommodate any other plates of similar dimensions. In the unlikely case the adapter for your plate is not available we can develop this for you. Please contact us (use the contact form over on the right) to discuss your exact requirements.
- Can Crystal Shifter handle hanging drop plates?
Crystal Shifter is designed for and typically used for sitting drop applications but can accommodate hanging drop too in combination with NexTal 15 drop guards.
- Can I use different plate types at the same time?
Shifter operates 2 plates at the time and users can use different plate types at the same time – for example, user can use MRC3 and MRC2 plates simultaneously to perform e.g. to distribute crystals from one plate type to another.
