High resolution powder diffraction of proteins associated with pharmaceutical interest.

The current proposal focuses on the structural determination via XRPD of nano/micro-crystalline proteins and complexes associated with diseases and epidemics, which are or will become a threat to public health. XRPD allows for studies of low quality crystals, polymorph screening and time-resolved studies. The proteins that we will study are: (a) Microcrystalline protein drugs against diabetes: Insulin-ligand complexes & insulin analogues for improving drug delivery & formulation. (b) Target proteins of newly emerging viruses for drug design. Concerning drug delivery, microcrystalline samples will be produced and characterized upon variation of their physicochemical environment. We focus on pH, humidity and oxidative stress mimicking in vivo conditions.