Improved Nucleation and Crystallization Technology

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Introduction: Structural information on biomolecules is critical in understanding their roles in disease pathogenesis and ultimately advancing disease diagnosis and treatments. Crystallization is one of the most common ways that chemical compounds are purified. High-quality single crystals are the prerequisites to generate diffraction data for structure analysis of biomacromolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids. Unfortunately, current empirical crystallization approaches, including X-ray crystallography, are intrinsically disadvantageous because they are time-consuming, costly, and inefficient. Improvements in crystallization require better understanding and active control of the initial nucleation and crystal growth, at a single embryo level instead of in ensemble. Therefore, it will be highly advantageous to have a highly efficient method that could produce high-quality crystals with a minimum amount of time, materials, and human labor. Technology: Georgia State University researchers have invented a method to selectively and controllably crystalize a compound (including small molecules or biomacromolecules) from a solution by confining the formation and growth of a single nucleus (individual crystal embryo) at the earliest molecular assembly stage. The controlled crystallization is achieved by applying an electric field across solutions of the target compound and precipitant, and the two solutions are connected through nanometer-scale pores as the electric field controls the rate of mixing. This high throughput method may allow scientists to gain a better understanding of how a drug binds with a protein, thereby facilitating the development of therapeutics with increased potency, decreased toxicity, and other improved properties.