Light Microscopy Module Biophysics-3

The primary objectives of this investigation are:
1. Use molecular biology to produce closely related protein constructs that display differences in growth rate dispersion during crystallization. Measure the intermolecular ‘attractiveness’ of each construct, then model the inter-particle forces, diffusion and convection.
2. Measure and compare the growth rate dispersion of ground and microgravity grown crystals. Growth rate dispersion will be measured for ground control crystals using routine crystallization apparatus. In addition, growth rate dispersion will be measure for ground and
microgravity grown crystals using the flight apparatus.
3. Characterize the quality of both ground and microgravity grown crystals. Sophisticated X-ray analysis along with X-ray structural data collection will be used to quantify and characterize crystal quality.
4. Link the knowledge about inter-particle forces, measured acceleration levels, calculated flow rates and the resultant X-ray analysis to develop a model and predictive ground-based tests to identify those samples producing crystals on the ground that would be improved in microgravity.