As principal investigator, space crystallographer, and biochemist, Alexander McPherson, of University of California, Irvine, and colleagues have been flying this experiment since September 1984, when they were guest investigators with University of Alabama researchers. In ensuing years, their experiments flew on seven shuttle missions to the former Russian space station Mir, including the first American mission, as well as numerous other shuttle missions—all without student involvement.
The goal of the long-term experiment is to determine the three-dimensional structures of various selected proteins—including thaumatin, pea lectin, canavalin, Bence-Jones, and various viruses—by X-ray diffraction analysis and other techniques. Determining these structures could lead to new drug designs, among other advances. "We need crystals to do that," says project scientist Stan Koszelak, also of UC-Irvine. "And in the microgravity of space, the crystals are not weighed down by the force of one gravity, [but are] free to diffuse slowly and evenly" in three ...
