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The Nanoliter Osmometer: Thermal Hysteresis Measurement

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Ice Binding Proteins

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2730))

Abstract

The nanoliter osmometer is one of the most common tools in the study of ice-binding proteins (IBPs). It is used not only to measure the thermal hysteresis activity of IBPs but also to explore ice sha**, ice adhesion, and ice growth and melting rates and patterns. The advantage of the nanoliter osmometer for the IBP study and for studying single ice crystals lies in the small sample volume, in the range of nanoliters. Such a small volume enables precise determination and control of the temperature with precision in the range of millidegrees. This chapter describes in detail the process of determination of thermal hysteresis using a nanoliter osmometer operated by a LabVIEW interface. We describe the preparation of suitable capillaries and sample injection, which is a challenging step in the measurement. We then describe the procedure of single crystal formation and the determination of the melting and freezing temperatures. Insights on crucial parameters are emphasized.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Israel Science Foundation for financial support.

Conflict of Interest

The corresponding author, Ido Braslavsky, was a co-founder of μIce, which produces nanoliter osmometers, with the editor of this Methods book, Ran Drori.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biochemistry, Food Science and Nutrition, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel

    Nitsan Pariente, Maya Bar Dolev & Ido Braslavsky

  2. Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

    Maya Bar Dolev

Authors
  1. Nitsan Pariente
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  2. Maya Bar Dolev
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  3. Ido Braslavsky
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ido Braslavsky .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Yeshiva University, New York, NY, USA

    Ran Drori

  2. Matériaux, Laboratoire Polymères, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausa, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Corey Stevens

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Pariente, N., Bar Dolev, M., Braslavsky, I. (2024). The Nanoliter Osmometer: Thermal Hysteresis Measurement. In: Drori, R., Stevens, C. (eds) Ice Binding Proteins. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2730. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3503-2_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3503-2_5

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-3502-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-3503-2

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