New Automated Protein Crystallization Apparatus

Advances in the modern understanding and control of biological systems have been richly informed bystructure information at the scale of interatomic distances. In human health, the impact of moleculaorganismic dysfunction, e.g., genetic, metabolic, hematologic, and other disease, is strongly dependmolecular structure. Diffraction studies of single crystals are the most reliable path to authoritatThe ultimate aim of this work is to make commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) instrumentation for automatsingle crystals available to every modern molecular biology and biochemistry laboratory. Other kindsmacromolecules will be considered at second priority. The crystals produced will be for crystal struX-ray diffraction and quasi-Laue neutron diffraction experiments. The apparatus will provide for prodynamic thermal control of supersaturation. In its multichamber design, one part will be for discoveconditions, and the other for crystal growth under programmed temperature control. Phase I: the appademonstrated to show merit and feasibility; Phase II: apparatus will be redesigned as necessary andprototype; Phase III: preceding work will be converted to COTS instrumentation.