An abattoir saves the day

An abattoir saves the day By Stephen Pincock Article Extras Swiss Structures When Timm Maier arrived at Nenad Ban's lab at ETH Zurich in early 2004, he was looking for a project that would push him to his limits. Not long before, ETH's Simon Jenni had obtained well-diffracting crystals of fungal fatty acid synthase, so Maier decided to go after its mammalian analogue. Justin Hession Photography /www.justinhession.ch Nenad Ban (left) and T

| 2 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
2:00
Share

By Stephen Pincock

Swiss Structures

When Timm Maier arrived at Nenad Ban's lab at ETH Zurich in early 2004, he was looking for a project that would push him to his limits. Not long before, ETH's Simon Jenni had obtained well-diffracting crystals of fungal fatty acid synthase, so Maier decided to go after its mammalian analogue.

"It was a funny project," says the German-born protein crystallographer, who completed his PhD at the Free University in Berlin. Since the 1970s, other groups had repeatedly shown that "it was impossible to obtain diffraction-quality crystals," he says.

But Maier needed to jump over another hurdle before he could even start trying to grow crystals: He needed a good source of the protein. "Expression of the molecule is difficult in E. coli," he explains, "and I didn't want to get into decades of trying to clone it and express it."

After pondering the problem ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Meet the Author

  • Stephen Pincock

    This person does not yet have a bio.

Published In

Share
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

sartorius logo
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo

Products

Photo of a researcher overseeing large scale production processes in a laboratory.

Scaling Lentiviral Vector Manufacturing for Optimal Productivity

Thermo Fisher Logo
Collage-style urban graphic of wastewater surveillance and treatment

Putting Pathogens to the Test with Wastewater Surveillance

An illustration of an mRNA molecule in front of a multicolored background.

Generating High-Quality mRNA for In Vivo Delivery with lipid nanoparticles

Thermo Fisher Logo
Tecan Logo

Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide