Amy McDowell, Sarah Lambert Hollingsworth and Abbie Banko attended a workshop on Crystal Protein Growth at the University of Alabama in Huntsville last week.  The workshop, organized by the Alabama Space Grant Consortium and taught by UAH Science faculty, was made possible by a NASA grant.  The participants learned it’s necessary for crystals to form around proteins so that we can get a picture of the proteins through x-rays.  Since viruses attach themselves to proteins in our body, it is important to know the shape of these proteins so that medical research can be done to develop a drug that attaches to the protein so that the virus does not.  The better the crystal is, the better the picture of the protein, the better the anti-viral drug we can make!  The best crystals grow in space because of its microgravity environment (weightlessness). 

Sarah Lambert and Abbie had the opportunity to participate in two labs during the workshop.  They did an experiment to see which pH solutions would produce the best crystals, and also loaded the tubes that would grow crystals to launch to the International Space Station from Kazakhstan sometime next fall.   This tube was frozen in liquid nitrogen and will be placed in a chamber that will let it thaw only after it is in the space station.  We got to make another tube that we brought home so that we can examine the crystals made on Earth under a microscope.

Amy McDowell, Sarah Lambert Hollingsworth and Abbie Banko attended a workshop on Crystal Protein Growth at the University of Alabama in Huntsville last week.  The workshop, organized by the Alabama Space Grant Consortium and taught by UAH Science faculty, was made possible by a NASA grant.  The participants learned it’s necessary for crystals to form around proteins so that we can get a picture of the proteins through x-rays.  Since viruses attach themselves to proteins in our body, it is important to know the shape of these proteins so that medical research can be done to develop a drug that attaches to the protein so that the virus does not.  The better the crystal is, the better the picture of the protein, the better the anti-viral drug we can make!  The best crystals grow in space because of its microgravity environment (weightlessness).