The other four payloads support work by NASA/Marshall and the biomedical community to determine the structure and function of the thousands of proteins used in the human body and in valuable plants and animals. The Diffusion-controlled Crystallization Apparatus for Microgravity (DCAM) and the Protein crystal growth nitrogen Dewar will be placed aboard Mir where they will slowly grow crystals of various proteins over the next few months until retrieval by the STS-91 mission in May. These two experiments operate without direct crew involvement.
Dr. Daniel Carter of New Century Pharmaceuticals, principal investigator for DCAM, described two significant advances with such experiments. In one case, scientists have grown crystals of HIV protease inhibitor that are significantly larger and of higher quality than any previous specimens. This will help in defining the structure of the protein which is important in fighting the AIDS virus.
Another team, which includes Carter, has been able to define the structure of the recombinant antibody that fights respiratory synctial virus (RSV), the most serious infectious disease that affects infants in the United States. More than 4 million cases a year are reported, with more than 4,000 infants dying from it. The active region of the antibody has been defined, which will help scientists to develop smaller, more easily made molecules that have the same therapeutic effect.
"If
these two examples could be referred to as gems," Carter said, "this
next one is really a crown jewel." He showed pictures of pike
parvalbumin, a protein found in a type of fish egg. Samples grown one two
Space Shuttle flights in 1997 showed extraordinarily high resolution when
scanned by X-rays, a standard method for studying the structures of crystals.
Carter said the detail was the best yet for so large a protein (more than
200 amino acids in size), and will also al
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Contact: Dr. John Horack
john.horack@msfc.nasa.gov
(205) 544-1872
NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center--Space Sciences Laboratory
16-Jan-1998