PEO-sheathed liquid jets increase sample delivery stability for serial femtosecond X-ray crystallography

M Mohammad Vakili (European X-ray Free Electron Laser, Holzkoppel 4, 22869 Schenefeld, Germany) S Saša Bajt J Johan Bielecki S Sabine Botha C Claire Cerniglia H Henry N. Chapman C Carsten Deiter R Raphael de Wijn K Katerina Dörner J Juncheng E P Petra Fromme R Raimund Fromme A Alfonso M. Gañán Calvo H Huijong Han P Phan Bao Ngoc Huynh C Chan Kim M Marco Kloos (European X-ray Free Electron Laser, Holzkoppel 4, 22869 Schenefeld, Germany) F Faisal H. M. Koua R Romain Letrun J José Domingo Meza-Aguilar J José M. Montanero K Katherine Morin T Tomas Popelar A Alejandro Rubio González C Christina Schmidt (Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Helmholtz-Institute Münster (IMD-4), Corrensstraße 46, 48149 Münster, Germany) S Sunidhi Sharma E Egor Sobolev J Jui-Tung Tseng O Oleksii Turkot A Agnieszka Wrona J Jay-How Yang G Gayathri Yogaganeshan R Richard Bean

Abstract

Abstract Viscoelastic jets can be generated by the polyethylene oxide (PEO) sheathing of an aqueous solution using double-flow focusing nozzles (DFFNs) and represent an efficient method to deliver samples that are dispersed in low and medium-viscosity liquids for X-ray diffractive imaging experiments. Due to their micrometre diameter and millimetre length, such jets can be used for pump–probe serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) in order to access a timescale of a few tens of microseconds. This range is in between the previously achievable ranges accessible at XFELs (picoseconds-to-microsecond time delays) and synchrotrons (a few hundred µs to millisecond delays), respectively. Here, we demonstrate their effectiveness to deliver protein microcrystals (lysozyme and photosystem II) in buffer compositions of various viscosities for SFX and explore capabilities of triple-flow focusing nozzles (TFFNs) that incorporate PEO-sheathing to control challenging-to-jet viscous buffers for time-resolved diffusive mixing experiments.

Article Details

Volume / Issue Vol. 16, Issue 1
Published March 25, 2026
ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher Nature Portfolio

Journal Info

Scientific Reports

Nature Portfolio

ISSN: 2045-2322 Open Access Life Sciences

Authors (33)

M

Mohammad Vakili

European X-ray Free Electron Laser, Holzkoppel 4, 22869 Schenefeld, Germany

S

Saša Bajt

J

Johan Bielecki

S

Sabine Botha

C

Claire Cerniglia

H

Henry N. Chapman

C

Carsten Deiter

R

Raphael de Wijn

K

Katerina Dörner

J

Juncheng E

P

Petra Fromme

R

Raimund Fromme

A

Alfonso M. Gañán Calvo

H

Huijong Han

P

Phan Bao Ngoc Huynh

C

Chan Kim

M

Marco Kloos

European X-ray Free Electron Laser, Holzkoppel 4, 22869 Schenefeld, Germany

F

Faisal H. M. Koua

R

Romain Letrun

J

José Domingo Meza-Aguilar

J

José M. Montanero

K

Katherine Morin

T

Tomas Popelar

A

Alejandro Rubio González

C

Christina Schmidt

Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Helmholtz-Institute Münster (IMD-4), Corrensstraße 46, 48149 Münster, Germany

S

Sunidhi Sharma

E

Egor Sobolev

J

Jui-Tung Tseng

O

Oleksii Turkot

A

Agnieszka Wrona

J

Jay-How Yang

G

Gayathri Yogaganeshan

R

Richard Bean