Protein crystal growth in microgravity review of large scale temperature induction method: Bovine insulin, human insulin and human alpha interferon

The protein crystal growth facility (PCF) is space-flight hardware that accommodates large scale protein crystal growth experiments using temperature change as the inductive step. Recent modifications include specialized instrumentation for monitoring crystal nucleation with laser light scattering. This paper reviews results from the PCF's first seven flights on the Space Shuttle, the last with laser light scattering instrumentation. The PCF's objective is twofold: (1) production of high quality protein crystals for X-ray analysis and subsequent structure based drug design and (2) preparation of a large quantity of relatively contaminant free crystals for use as time-release protein pharmaceuticals. The first three Shuttle flights with bovine insulin constituted the PCF's proof of concept, demonstrating that the space-grown crystals were larger and diffracted to higher resolution than their earth-grown counterparts. The later four PCF missions were used to grow recombinant human insulin crystals for X-ray analysis and to continue productions trials aimed at the development of a processing facility for crystalline recombinant alpha interferon.