ASGSB 1998 Annual Meeting Abstracts

[51]
PROTEIN CRYSTAL GROWTH AND THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION.   L.J. DeLucas, T. Bray, K. Moore, and C. Nicolet, Center for Macromolecular Crystallography, University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Protein structural information plays a key role in understanding biological structure-function relationships and in the development of new pharmaceuticals for both chronic and infectious diseases. X-ray crystallography is the predominant technique used to obtain three-dimensional structure information at atomic resolution. The Center for Macromolecular Crystallography (CMC) has devoted considerable effort studying the fundamental processes involved in macromolecular crystal growth both in a 1-g and µg environment. Results from experiments performed on more than 35 U.S. space shuttle flights have clearly indicated that microgravity can provide a beneficial environment for macromolecular crystal growth. The CMC has used crystals grown in microgravity to accelerate structure-based drug design projects. This research has led to the development of a new generation of pharmaceuticals that are currently in preclinical or clinical trials for diseases such as cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, AIDS, influenza, stroke and other cardiovascular complications.

The International Space Station (ISS) provides an opportunity to have a complete crystallographic capability on orbit, which was previously not possible with the space shuttle orbiter. As envisioned, the X-ray Crystallography Facility (XCF) will be a complete facility for growing protein crystals; selecting, harvesting, and mounting sample crystals for x-ray diffraction; cryo-freezing mounted crystals if necessary; performing x-ray diffraction studies; and downlinking the data for use by crystallographers on the ground. Other advantages of such a facility include crystal characterization so that iterations in the crystal growth conditions can be made, thereby optimizing the final crystals produced in a three month interval on the ISS.

(Supported by NASA: NAS8-40189, NCC8-126)

Back to Meeting Program