Here we provide a guide for adapting the tools developed for protein X-ray crystallography to study the structures and supramolecular assembly of peptides. Peptide crystallography involves selecting a suitable peptide, crystallizing the peptide, collecting X-ray diffraction data, processing the diffraction data, determining the crystallographic phases and generating an electron density map, building and refining models, and depositing the crystallographic structure in the Protein Data Bank (PDB). Advances in technology make this process easy for a newcomer to adopt. This paper describes techniques for determining the X-ray crystallographic structures of peptides: incorporation of amino acids containing heavy atoms for crystallographic phase determination, commercially available kits to crystallize peptides, modern techniques for X-ray crystallographic data collection, and free user-friendly software for data processing and producing a crystallographic structure.

Background

Telehealth postoperative visits are an attractive strategy to minimize exposure, especially during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic. The use of a surgical drain often prevents this minimal-exposure approach in that patients return to the outpatient clinic for drain removal.

Methods and results

Following unilateral neck dissection, the customary closed-suction drain was replaced with a self-removing, passive drain dressing to facilitate same-day discharge and telehealth postoperative follow-up. The patient removed the dressing and drain at home during a telehealth visit on postoperative day 4 and she healed favorably without any signs of infection or seroma.

Conclusions

When thoughtfully applied in the appropriate clinical context, small practice adaptations like this can facilitate telehealth solutions that diminish unnecessary exposure for patients, their caregivers, and health care staff.