About
Small molecules play irreplaceable roles in the intricate and beautiful materials tapestry of our world, and their properties depend on precise structural characterization. However, obtaining high-quality single crystals remains a major bottleneck. As the field moves toward higher throughput and reduced sample consumption, automation is emerging as a practical solution.
The laboratory of Professor Bernhard Spingler at the University of Zurich has developed a robot-assisted crystallization approach for small molecules, building on earlier work in single-crystal growth. The group designed crystallization screens compatible with standard pipetting robots, enabling 96 distinct conditions to be prepared from a single solution, while requiring as little as 12 µL of saturated sample
Crystallization trials are stored in a Rock Imager® 1000, with crystal growth monitored automatically using Rock Maker® software. This initially developed approach has been successfully extended to a broader range of systems, including cationic metal complexes and, more recently, cationic porphyrin complexes. In parallel, the group has established systematic strategies to diagnose and improve crystal quality when initial conditions are suboptimal.
Join this webinar to learn how automation is transforming small-molecule crystallization workflows and enabling more efficient structure determination.
When
May 27th 2026
Session 1
10:00 AM - 10:30 AM CEST
(09:00 AM - 09:30 AM BST)
Session 2
01:00 PM - 01:30 PM ET
(10:00 AM - 10:30 AM PT)
About the Speakers
Prof. Dr. Bernhard Spingler is a Titularprofessor at the University of Zürich, where he leads research in Photodynamic Therapy, Structural Chemistry, and Biology. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Basel (Summa cum laude) with a focus on asymmetric organic synthesis, followed by postdoctoral research with Prof. Stephen J. Lippard at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he solved the X-ray structure of an oxaliplatin-DNA adduct, and with Prof. Roger Alberto at the University of Zürich. He has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, contributed over 650 entries to the Cambridge Structural Database, and deposited 21 structures in the Protein Data Bank.
Hafsa Iftikhar is currently working at Formulatrix as an application scientist for protein crystallization. She received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Structural Biology with research focused on the Identification of new potential inhibitors targeting HCV and SARS-CoV-2. Before joining Formulatrix, she worked as a research fellow at Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Germany, and associate researcher at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Pakistan.