Genyouwine Innovation
Thursday, November 17th, 2005Despite being knee-deep in visa applications and related guff, I still have time to write here. I hope you all are suitably impressed and honoured.
I received a flyer from Oxford Cryostreams. Now you may not know if it’s not your field, but the biggest hazard in structural biology is not the X-rays or the magnets (because the safety systems in effect are pretty damn’ good) but the liquid nitrogen that we have to use at many stages. For crystals for example, it is usual to freeze them and keep them frozen in the X-ray beam in a stream of nitrogen/dry air at 100 Kelvin. Of course this means that you have to provide liquid nitrogen to a dewar that feeds the cryostream, which in turn means sloshing around gallons of the stuff. And although we have oxygen monitors and protective clothing it still gives me the willies (we had a Japanese post-doc in the X-ray room last Saturday night, dispensing nitrogen, oxygen alarm blaring and he was oblivious, just carrying on. Fortunate for him that someone was walking past!) just thinking about it.
Oxford Cryosystems now market a cryostream that completely avoids using liquid nitrogen. It still cools to 100 Kelvin in 20 minutes, but their ‘Cobra’ system uses gaseous nitrogen from a generator (in house or bought from them). OK, it’s expensive, but this could go a long way to reducing a very real hazard in the lab. The technology might not be innovative, but the application certainly is. A round of applause if you please.
Random iTunes Track: ‘Oh Happy Day’, Kelen Franco
Mood: MMMmmmmmBacon butties.
