ROCK MAKER®

ROCK MAKER®

Protein Crystallization Software

Thumbnail-Icon-PC-one-software

Manage Your Entire Experiment

One Software from Start to Finish

From designing your experiments to data collection, keep all your data organized and in one spot.

Thumbnail-Icon-PC-machine-learning2

Increase Your Throughput

Machine Learning for Auto-Scoring

Automatically score your drops
in minutes with integrated machine learning algorithms.

Thumbnail-Icon-PC-easy-click

Design Experiments with Ease

Begin with Only a Few Clicks

Intuitive tools allow users
to design screening and optimization experiments in seconds.  

Design and Manage Experiments with Ease

ROCK MAKER allows you to screen your proteins against sparse screens.  The Screen Experiment Wizard makes experiment design a breeze - creating multiple screen experiments for one or more proteins takes less than a minute.

Powerful Experiment Design

  • Easy-to-use interface
  • Most commonly used screens come pre-loaded
  • Unique barcodes allow you to track your experiments from dispensing to imaging and scoring

Dynamic and Efficient Image Viewing + Scoring

Images taken by ROCK IMAGER are collected by ROCK MAKER, wherein you can compare images and assign scores.  Once you’ve found a crystal, you can measure its size and add notes directly to the image itself.

Bring out details of your UV, SONICC, and FRAP images using the leveling histogram or optically zoom in with a Region of Interest (ROI).

View + Score Images with Ease:

  • Navigate through and score your images using your keyboard and customizable scoring schemas
  • View up to four drops simultaneously or compare different inspections of the same drop
  • View images with multiple modes including slideshow & full-screen

Automatically Score Your Drops with MARCO

One bottleneck to protein crystallography is manually scoring those protein drop images, which is often very time-consuming and tedious. With the advent of machine learning has come the ability to have a computer algorithm analyze and score protein drop images. One such technology is the MAchine Recognition of Crystallization Outcomes or MARCO, which can score a 96 well- 1 drop plate in under 3 minutes, with an accuracy of ~94%. MARCO automatically provides a probability of a drop image being either a crystal, precipitate, clear, or other. MARCO is now integrated in ROCK MAKER and can automatically score your drops with just a few clicks.

One bottleneck to protein crystallography is manually scoring those protein drop images, which is often very time-consuming and tedious. With the advent of machine learning has come the ability to have a computer algorithm analyze and score protein drop images.

One such technology is the MAchine Recognition of Crystallization Outcomes or MARCO, which can score a 96 well- 1 drop plate in under 3 minutes, with an accuracy of ~94%. MARCO automatically provides a probability of a drop image being either a crystal, precipitate, clear, or other.

MARCO is now integrated in ROCK MAKER and can automatically score your drops with just a few clicks.

Zero in on the Optimal Crystallization Conditions

Got a hit? You can perform a quick multidimensional optimization of various conditions, varying concentrations and pHs of the ingredients along rows, columns, and/or quadrants within a plate. ROCK MAKER helps you effortlessly find the ideal conditions for crystal growth.

Iterative Screen Optimization (ISO)

ISO is a highly automated optimization process that can help researchers yield protein crystals from conditions that initially do not look promising. Using a premade screen, an initial screening experiment is set up. After images are collected on this experiment, a user classifies each of the images by scoring them as either Clear, Crystal, Light Precipitate, or Heavy Precipitate. Based on these scores, the ISO process creates a new experiment wherein the concentration of the precipitant from each condition is altered - either increased or decreased, to get into the nucleation zone in the protein solubility curve. For example, if the initial experiment yielded a clear score, the next ISO experiment will increase the precipitant concentration. This ISO will then be performed on the newly created experiment (round 2) and such iterations will be done a few more times in a series. After the first iteration, every subsequent round of ISO takes into account the scores of the last two experiments to calculate the precipitant concentration in the next experiment. The ROCK MAKER Crystallization Software can automatically generate experiments for each ISO step, adjusting the precipitant concentration of each condition based on user scores.

ISO is a highly automated optimization process that can help researchers yield protein crystals from conditions that initially do not look promising. Using a premade screen, an initial screening experiment is set up. After images are collected on this experiment, a user classifies each of the images by scoring them as either Clear, Crystal, Light Precipitate, or Heavy Precipitate.

Based on these scores, the ISO process creates a new experiment wherein the concentration of the precipitant from each condition is altered - either increased or decreased, to get into the nucleation zone in the protein solubility curve. For example, if the initial experiment yielded a clear score, the next ISO experiment will increase the precipitant concentration.

This ISO will then be performed on the newly created experiment (round 2) and such iterations will be done a few more times in a series. After the first iteration, every subsequent round of ISO takes into account the scores of the last two experiments to calculate the precipitant concentration in the next experiment.

The ROCK MAKER Crystallization Software can automatically generate experiments for each ISO step, adjusting the precipitant concentration of each condition based on user scores.

Further Optimize Against Randomized Conditions

ROCK MAKER can quickly generate fully randomized optimization screens based on promising conditions of your choice. Create experiments with unique conditions by adjusting the concentration, pH, and the probability of appearance of buffers, precipitates, salts, and additives.

Analyze Your Data to Improve Future Experiment Design

Carry out an in-depth analysis of your results quickly using the powerful Search & Filter feature of ROCK MAKER. Based on previously performed experiments and user-defined criteria, you can make informed predictions about the most favorable conditions for crystallizing your protein of interest.

Built-In Data Analysis and Reporting Tools

  • Use Search and Filter to mine your data to uncover trends based on a variety of parameters, helping you to continue your research efforts and focus in on conditions likely to grow bigger and better crystals
  • Create and manipulate charts to visualize your experiment results
  • Print various experiment reports for your lab notebooks

Access Your Experiments Anywhere

ROCK MAKER WEB

ROCK MAKER WEB is an optional feature designed for labs that want to provide their users with the flexibility to view and score images from a web browser.

 

Changes to ROCK MAKER WEB and ROCK MAKER are always in sync, including permissions set for user access.

 

ROCK MAKER WEB is tablet-friendly, supports common tablet gestures, and is designed to let you do your work using your fingertips.

rock maker web crystallization software

Always Here to Support and Help your Lab Achieve More

Built-In Training with ROCK MAKER University

ROCK MAKER University provides tours of the major features and functions of the software.  It also contains guided tutorials that span the entire crystallography process to help you design the experiments that you need to create.

 

For example, when you complete the "Make a Protein" tutorial, your efforts will result in a protein formulation that you can use in any experiment. No time is sacrificed while learning to use the software with ROCK MAKER University. 

World-Class Support

Our support team continually receives the highest marks for customer satisfaction. Having trouble? Send an email or call – within an hour someone will work on your issue.

 

Continuous User-Driven Improvements

With an average of two software releases per year, your feedback and suggestions are developed, tested, and implemented year-round – which means the think-tank behind ROCK MAKER is a pool of crystallographers working at the leading pharmaceutical companies and research universities from around the world.

Easily Track Your Crystals During Your Synchrotron Trip

Keeping track of harvested crystals can sometimes become impossible to manage. ROCK MAKER brings you the Synchrotron Trip Management tool, keeping all your trip data in one place. From virtually harvesting your crystals to assigning dewars and pucks and sending them off on the designated synchrotron trip. ROCK MAKER makes it simple for you to plan and backtrack the entire process.

The ROCK MAKER Synchrotron Trip management tool allows you to:

  • Virtually harvest your crystals
  • Create and assign dewars and pucks
  • Create synchrotron trips and assign crystals
  • Compile trip data in one report at any stage
  • Import synchrotron trip results and have it all in one place

Editions Based On Your Needs and Budget

Enterprise Edition Imaging Edition Design Edition
Screen Experiments
Optimize Experiments
Iterative Screen Optimization (ISO)When Combined With Imaging Edition
View & Score Images
MARCO Autoscoring
Reports
Synchrotron Trip Management
Dispense
Search & Filter
Hardware IntegrationAll InstrumentsROCK IMAGER, SONICC, FRAPFORMULATOR, NT8, MANTIS*

*When used in combination with the FORMULATOR

Testimonials

Resources

Reference

1. Jones HG, Wrapp D, Gilman MSA, Battles MB, Wang N, Sacerdote S, Chuang GY, Kwong PD, McLellan JS; Iterative screen optimization maximizes the efficiency of macromolecular crystallization; Acta Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun.; 2019 Feb 1; 75(Pt 2): 123-131.