HomepageBiologyCrystallizing Knowledge by Visiting a Pharmaceutical Company

Crystallizing Knowledge by Visiting a Pharmaceutical Company

Biology and BCMB students enrolled in Structural Biology, taught by Dr. Rebecca Roberts, received a first-hand look at how protein crystallography is used in rational drug design.

Protein crystallography is a method by which the atomic structure of a protein can be determined.  A hurdle in the process is growing good crystals out of proteins.  Structural Biology students grew their own crystals by hand in the course and then witnessed the process during a tour of Janssen Pharmaceuticals (a Johnson & Johnson company) in Spring House.  During the tour, students spoke with five different scientists and were guided through labs specializing in cell culture, protein purification, and crystallography.  The highlights of the tour were appreciating the use of robotics to increase the scale of crystal growth experiments and witnessing the rotating anode array x-ray generator at work collecting data from a protein crystal.

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