A UV holographic imaging device offers a low-cost, portable and robust technique to image and distinguish protein crystals from salt crystals, without the need for any expensive and bulky optical components. This “on-chip” device uses a UV LED and a consumer-grade CMOS image sensor de-capped and interfaced to a processor or microcontroller, the information from the crystal samples, which are placed very close to the sensor active area, is captured in the form of in-line holograms and extracted through digital back-propagation. In these holographic amplitude and/or phase reconstructions, protein crystals appear significantly darker compared to the background due to the strong UV absorption, unlike salt crystals, enabling one to clearly distinguish protein and salt crystals. The on-chip UV holographic microscope serves as a low-cost, sensitive, and robust alternative to conventional lens-based UV-microscopes used in protein crystallography.

The present disclosure provides compositions comprising protein crystals and methods for programmable biomaterial synthesis. The methods of the disclosure provide the ability to organize proteins within protein crystals with control over protein orientation.

Provided are: an economically superior protein crystallization method capable of efficiently finding conditions for crystallization by using a small amount of protein; and a crystallization device used for the method. According to the present invention, a transparent sealed container 1 is filled with a solution of protein, a part of the transparent sealed container 1 being formed of a semipermeable membrane 2 with a molecular weight cut-off that inhibits passage of the protein while allowing passage of a precipitant, and then, a precipitant solution with changed concentration and/or pH of the precipitant is continuously supplied to the semipermeable membrane 2, to crystallize the protein with the precipitant that infiltrates from the semipermeable membrane 2 into the sealed container 1.

A fluid processing method with which processing properties of fluids to be processed can be effectively controlled. Processing surfaces which are capable of being brought closer to each other and being separated from each other, and which rotate relatively are provided. A fluid to be processed is made to pass from inside to outside in a processing area between the processing surfaces to obtain a fluid thin film, and the resultant fluid thin film of the fluid to be processed is subjected to processing. Processing properties are controlled by changing the ratio of the distance to an outer peripheral end from a centre of rotation.

The present invention is related to a method for nucleating crystals from a solution comprising the steps of: injecting in a first capillary (1) tube an under saturated solution comprising a solvent and a soluble compound to be crystallised; changing the local conditions of the solution downstream of the capillary tube (1) to supersaturated conditions above the metastable conditions, the transition time of the fluid flowing in the capillary tube between the under saturated conditions and the supersaturated conditions above the metastable conditions being less than 1000 ms, preferably below 100 ms, even more preferably less than 10 ms.

The present disclosure relates to processes for treating an aqueous composition comprising lithium sulfate and sulfuric acid. The processes comprise evaporatively crystallizing the aqueous composition comprising lithium sulfate and sulfuric acid under conditions to obtain crystals of lithium sulfate monohydrate and a lithium sulfate-reduced solution; and optionally separating the crystals of the lithium sulfate monohydrate from the lithium sulfate-reduced solution. The processes optionally further comprise concentrating the lithium sulfate-reduced solution under conditions to obtain an acidic condensate and a concentrate comprising sulfuric acid.

The present disclosure relates to processes for treating an aqueous composition comprising lithium sulfate and sulfuric acid. The processes comprise evaporatively crystallizing the aqueous composition comprising lithium sulfate and sulfuric acid under conditions to obtain crystals of lithium sulfate monohydrate and a lithium sulfate-reduced solution; and optionally separating the crystals of the lithium sulfate monohydrate from the lithium sulfate-reduced solution. The processes optionally further comprise concentrating the lithium sulfate-reduced solution under conditions to obtain an acidic condensate and a concentrate comprising sulfuric acid.

The invention generally relates to systems with anti-fouling control and methods for controlling fouling within a channel of a plug flow crystallizer. In certain aspects, the invention provides a system that includes a plug flow crystallizer having a channel, one or more heating/cooling elements, each operably associated with a different segment of the channel, and a controller. The controller is operably coupled to the one or more heating/cooling elements and configured to implement a temperature profile within the channel of the plug flow crystallizer that grows crystals in a plug of fluid that flows through a first segment of the channel and dissolves encrust in a second segment of the channel while having minimal impact on crystal growth in the plug of fluid in the second segment of the channel. In certain embodiments, these segments may be cyclically alternated, in that the segment in which crystal grows in one cycle becomes the segment in which crystal dissolves in the next cycle and vice versa, to realize a fully continuous crystallization process.

An experiment system and method for accurate controlling of macromolecular crystallization process. The system has a platform-equipped horizontal moving slot and channel dedicated backwash module, a droplet adding control module, an observing module, a user observation computer system, and an experimental condition control module. A high-precision movement knob of the x-axis platform and the y-axis platform of the system and the accurate position control of a syringe needle are used to ensure that the macromolecular solution can be added into the correct positions of convex or concave. The crystallization induction period of the target crystal faun is determined by the real-time data of the high-speed microcamera, and the crystal cultivation environment is adjusted in real time. This is simple and easy to operate, high in productivity, can be applied to the conventional experimental replication.

Provided are: an economically superior protein crystallization method capable of efficiently finding conditions for crystallization by using a small amount of protein; and a crystallization device used for the method. According to the present invention, a transparent sealed container 1 is filled with a solution of protein, a part of the transparent sealed container 1 being formed of a semipermeable membrane 2 with a molecular weight cut-off that inhibits passage of the protein while allowing passage of a precipitant, and then, a precipitant solution with changed concentration and/or pH of the precipitant is continuously supplied to the semipermeable membrane 2, to crystallize the protein with the precipitant that infiltrates from the semipermeable membrane 2 into the sealed container 1.