Abstract
The growth of protein crystals in space has become a high priority microgravity activity following results obtained from flight experiments. Protein crystal growth is an essential prerequisite to the determination of the molecular structure of proteins and hence towards an understanding of biological processes on the molecular level. Applications lie in the molecular design of new drugs, in protein engineering, synthetic vaccines and also biochip electronics technology.
We give here a brief summary of the methods and recent results of protein crystallography. In particular, mention is made of the use of intense synchrotron radiation sources, which have led to the use of smaller crystal volumes and extended the resolution of data obtained. We then concentrate on surveying the methods of protein crystal growth available on earth and compare these with the methods and results obtained in space.
Recommendations are then made for future experimental developments which should lead to a better understanding of the processes and parameters of protein crystal growth.
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© 1987 European Space Agency, Paris Cedex, France
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Drenth, J., Helliwell, J.R., Littke, W. (1987). Crystal Growth of Biological Materials. In: Walter, H.U. (eds) Fluid Sciences and Materials Science in Space. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-46613-7_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-46613-7_13
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