PROTEIN CRYSTAL-GROWTH RESULTS FROM THE UNITED-STATES-MICROGRAVITY-LABORATORY-1 MISSION

Protein crystal growth experiments have been performed on fourteen, sp ace shuttle missions between April 1985 and June 1992. These space shu ttle missions have been used to grow crystals of a variety of proteins using vapour diffusion, liquid diffusion, and temperature induced cry stallization techniques. The United States Microgravity Laboratory-1 m ission (June 25-July 9, 1992) was a space lab mission dedicated to exp eriments involved in materials processing. New protein crystal growth hardware was developed to allow in-orbit examination of initial crysta l growth results, the knowledge from which was used on subsequent days to prepare new crystal growth experiments. The hardware developed spe cifically for the USML-1 mission will be discussed along with prelimin ary experimental results.