Growing Crystals in Space
Crew member Thomas Pesquet removing the Protein Crystallization Facility hardware from the incubator on the ISS for a crystallization investigation by Merck & Co.
Media Credit: NASA
This week, crew member Ricky Arnold processed samples for a student crystal growth experiment that was launched to the International Space Station on SpaceX CRS-14. The winning students from the 2017 Wisconsin Crystal Growing Competition are growing crystals onboard the ISSInternational Space Station National Lab to test their optimized conditions for Earth-based crystallization against microgravity-based crystallization. The students adapted their Earth-based crystallization methods to prepare a flight project and will compare the crystals grown in microgravityThe condition of perceived weightlessness created when an object is in free fall, for example when an object is in orbital motion. Microgravity alters many observable phenomena within the physical and life sciences, allowing scientists to study things in ways not possible on Earth. The International Space Station provides access to a persistent microgravity environment. with crystals grown on the ground.
Crystals grown in microgravity are often larger and more well-ordered than Earth-grown crystals. Check out some of the ways investigators are using the unique microgravity environment of the ISS National Lab to advance their crystallization research and development:
- A Merck & Co. investigation aimed at growing a crystalline suspension of millions of tiny uniform crystals, toward improving the formulation of the company’s cancer immunotherapy drug, Keytruda®
- Eli Lilly & Co. protein crystallization experiments for structure-based drug design
- An Oak Ridge National Laboratory experiment to crystallize the AChE enzyme, toward developing an improved antidote for nerve gas and pesticide poisoning
- An investigation by The Michael J. Fox Foundation to grow crystals of the LRRK2 protein, a key target in identifying the makeup of Parkinson’s disease