Use of a Planetary Ball Mill for Cryogenic Grinding of Yeast Cells

The Michael Rout Lab at the Rockefeller University in New York (NY), US, contacted Retsch Inc., from Newtown, PA in 2006 to discuss the possibility of using the Planetary Ball Mill to cryogenically grind yeast cell pellets. The aim of the experiment was to explore the construct of nuclear pore complexes located on the cell walls of yeast cells. The decision to use a planetary ball mill in place of a cryogenic ball mill for this application was mainly based on the fact that it produced small particle sizes, which were considered an important prerequisite for more in-depth analysis of the yeast cells. The Michael Rout Lab worked out a very specific protocol in March 2007 to achieve high yields of lysed yeast cells as the Planetary Ball Mills were not specially designed for cryogenic grinding. The laboratory continued to utilize the Planetary Ball Mill for cryogenically grinding yeast cells for continued research on this and other existing research projects.