Nanoliter Osmometer
Description
The Nanoliter Osmometer is a high precision temperature controlled stage designed for optical microscopy. Tight temperature control of the sample (<0.001°C) allows visualization of ice nucleation, growth and melting with high accuracy and temperature stability.
The Nanoliter Osmometer is controlled by special software, which enables various types of temperature control, such as step, ramp and dwell. The software also allows synchronized video recording to directly monitor and analyze changes of the physical characteristics of the sample, such as size, shape and optical signal.
Application
Nanoliter Osmometer was originally designed to investigate micron-sized ice crystals behavior under optical microscope. It allows determination of the melting and freezing point of an aqueous solution using nanoliter droplets. Such measurements are extremely valuable for quantitative evaluation of antifreeze activity, re-crystallization studies etc.
Documentation
Example studies using Nanoloter Osmometer
Braslavsky I, Drori R. LabVIEW-operated novel nanoliter osmometer for ice binding protein investigations. J Vis Exp. 2013 Feb 4;(72):e4189. doi: 10.3791/4189.
Berger T, Meister K, DeVries AL, Eves R, Davies PL, Drori R. Synergy between Antifreeze Proteins Is Driven by Complementary Ice-Binding. J Am Chem Soc. 2019 Dec 4;141(48):19144-19150. doi: 10.1021/jacs.9b10905.
Mizrahy O, Bar-Dolev M, Guy S, Braslavsky I. Inhibition of ice growth and recrystallization by zirconium acetate and zirconium acetate hydroxide. PLoS One. 2013;8(3):e59540. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0059540.
Bar-Dolev M, Celik Y, Wettlaufer JS, Davies PL, Braslavsky I. New insights into ice growth and melting modifications by antifreeze proteins. J R Soc Interface. 2012 Dec 7;9(77):3249-59. doi: 10.1098/rsif.2012.0388.