[3dem] Help! Plastic films on my holey grids are KILLING ME

[Conway, James Frederick]

It was my understanding that Quantifoil solved this problem quite a while back, but nonetheless we kept receiving plastic-contaminated grids from one US supplier for some time after. When I contacted Quantifoil, they said that removing the plastic after the factory was near impossible, and when I told them the serial number of the grid boxes, they disavowed knowledge of them. My dark suspicion is that sending them back to the supplier just put them in the pipeline for someone else to receive, but that would be rank speculation. However, buying directly from Quantifoil has resulted in near perfect grids for over 5 years now. I suggest sending the bad batches of grids back for a refund, and if you are not already dealing directly with Quantifoil, try doing so or with a factory-recommended local supplier. If these grids are from Quantifoil, then certainly complain, send them back - it shouldn't be your time and money to fix up the grids. In my experience C-flats behave differently and (in my hands) inconsistently, but I understand there was a period of manufacturing issues that are now resolved and I look forward to trying them again.

James Conway
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James Conway, PhD.,
Professor, Department of Structural Biology
Director, Molecular Biophysics and Structural Biology Graduate Program
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Biomedical Science Tower 3, Room 2047
3501 5th Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
U.S.A.
Phone: +1-412-383-9847
Fax:   +1-412-648-8998
Email: jxc100 at pitt.edu
Web:   http://www.structbio.pitt.edu/index.php/12-faculty/18-james-conway  
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