SBIR 95-1 SOLICITATION
PROJECT SUMMARY
Proposal Number:
Project Title:
APPLYING AN ELECTROPHORETIC CRYSTALLIZATION SYSTEM TO SPACE
Technical Abstract:
The act of crystallizing a macromolecule remains a trial-and-error process
that often requires long periods of time and a large supply of sample. Our
goal, as described in this proposal, is to develop a new methodology for the
crystallization of macromolecules where the salts and precipitants will be
electrophoretically delivered into the macromolecule solution in a controlled
and reproducible fashion. In parallel to the basic research, the results will
be used to design and test a prototype protein crystal reaction chamber based
on the proposed methodology for microgravity applications on the Shuttle,
retrievable free flyers, and the Space Station.
This project is directly applicable to all three areas in subtopic 15.01 in
which biotechnology innovations are being sought.
The proposed methodology and the resulting hardware system are expected to
allow a better understanding of macromolecular crystallization processes as
well as to provide a more rapid rational approach to the crystallization of
macromolecules. The proposed hardware is expected to be especially useful in
microgravity crystallization experiments where a remote initiation,
monitoring, and control of the crystallization process will be provided.
Potential Commercial Applications:
Commercial applications are mostly in the field of protein crystallography
itself. In addition to the benefits that the technology and hardware will
provide to commercial space processing, we anticipate selling units and
services to schools, academic research groups, R&D laboratories of
pharmaceutical companies, and other industrial laboratories worldwide when our
technology proves to be superior to those currently in use. Supporting
materials such as membranes, reagent solutions, control and monitoring units
would also be sold. Additional applications of our methodology would be in
other areas of biology in which solutions must initially be kept separate and
later mixed in a controlled fashion (e.g., tissue /drug interaction, cell growth, cell
differentiation and hormone delivery).
Name and Address of Offeror:
Aerospace Engineering Group of IDEA, Inc.
10000 Virginia Manor Road, Suite 360
Beltsville, MD 20705
Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) &
Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR) Programs
Electronic Management System (EMS)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
The SBIR/STTR EMS site is maintained by Steve
Hu, Hughes STX.
For comments and questions, contact
webmaster@sbir.hq.nasa.gov.
Updated: Feb. 7, 1996