ISS - International Space Station emblem.
Jan 30, 2023
As part of the Russian experiment "Crystallizer" aboard the International Space Station, proteins are crystallized in microgravity in the interests of fundamental and applied biology, medicine, pharmacology and bioelectronics.
The director of the experiment is the Federal Research Center "Crystallography and Photonics" of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Crystallization of proteins with subsequent determination of their structures by X-ray diffraction analysis is one of the most promising areas of modern structural biology. At the same time, crystallization in weightlessness significantly improves the quality of the resulting crystals, and knowledge of the protein structure and its complex is the key to the creation of drugs.
In 2009-2022, the Roscosmos State Corporation in cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) conducted 18 sessions of an experiment on protein crystallization by counter-diffusion through the gel phase in a capillary on the ISS. As a result, more than 270 proteins and their complexes were crystallized under microgravity conditions, and the structures of about 165 proteins and their complexes were deciphered.
Containers with crystallization devices, which contain protein samples and crystallization solutions, are delivered to the ISS on Russian Progress cargo spacecraft and Soyuz manned spacecraft. Experimental sessions lasting about three months are carried out in the Japanese Kibo module using the JAXA-PCG equipment created by Japanese scientists.
After that, the protein crystals are returned to Earth in the descent vehicles of the Soyuz spacecraft and are examined in the Japanese SPring-8 synchrotron to decipher the spatial structure, that is, to set the coordinates of their constituent atoms.
In the future, the proteins selected for the Crystallizer experiment can be used in the development of antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiviral and antitumor drugs, in particular, for the treatment of diabetes mellitus, tuberculosis, tetanus and various inflammatory processes.
Related article:
Space Station Crew Cultivates Crystals for Drug Development
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2017/03/space-station-crew-cultivates-crystals.html
Related links:
ROSCOSMOS Press Release: https://www.roscosmos.ru/38789/
Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS): https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/ran/
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA): https://global.jaxa.jp/
International Space Station (ISS): https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/mks/
Images, Text, Credits: ROSCOSMOS/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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