CONTROLLED NUCLEATION OF PROTEIN CRYSTAL GROWTH

TO SUPPORT THE GROWTH OF PROTEIN CRYSTALS IN MICRO-GRAVITY, THIS PROJECT WILL IMPROVE THE CONTROL OF NUCLEATION BY THE USE OF EPITAXIAL SUBSTRATES, INSTEAD OF SEED CRYSTALS OR SPONTANEOUS NUCLEATION, TO GREATLY SIMPLIFY FLIGHT APPARATUS AND INCREASE EXPERIMENT RELIABILITY. SPECIFICALLY, THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP, EXPERIMENTALLY VERIFY, AND APPLY A COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR RAPIDLY FINDING ALL POSSIBLE EXPITAXIAL SUBSTRATES FOR ANY GIVEN PROTEIN CRYSTAL. PHASE I TASKS WILL INCLUDE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE VALIDITY OF THE SEARCH ALGORITHM, DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF A PRELIMINARY VERSION OF THE SEARCH PROGRAM AND PREDICTIONS OF NEW CASES, AND EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION OF THESE PREDICTIONS. THE ULTIMATE GOAL IS TO PROVIDE EPITAXIAL SUBSTRATES FOR ALL MICROGRAVITY PROTEIN-CRYSTAL GROWTH EXPERIMENTS. TO SUPPORT THE GROWTH OF PROTEIN CRYSTALS IN MICRO-GRAVITY, THIS PROJECT WILL IMPROVE THE CONTROL OF NUCLEATION BY THE USE OF EPITAXIAL SUBSTRATES, INSTEAD OF SEED CRYSTALS OR SPONTANEOUS NUCLEATION, TO GREATLY SIMPLIFY FLIGHT APPARATUS AND INCREASE EXPERIMENT RELIABILITY. SPECIFICALLY, THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP, EXPERIMENTALLY VERIFY, AND APPLY A COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR RAPIDLY FINDING ALL POSSIBLE EXPITAXIAL SUBSTRATES FOR ANY GIVEN PROTEIN CRYSTAL. PHASE I TASKS WILL INCLUDE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE VALIDITY OF THE SEARCH ALGORITHM, DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF A PRELIMINARY VERSION OF THE SEARCH PROGRAM AND PREDICTIONS OF NEW CASES, AND EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION OF THESE PREDICTIONS. THE ULTIMATE GOAL IS TO PROVIDE EPITAXIAL SUBSTRATES FOR ALL MICROGRAVITY PROTEIN-CRYSTAL GROWTH EXPERIMENTS.