NASA Awards UCI Scientist Funding for Space Crystals
A UC Irvine molecular biologist was awarded two contracts totaling $14 million Wednesday from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Alexander McPherson will use the funding to build two devices for growing protein crystals at the International Space Station.
“The value of protein crystals is they allow you to deduce the detailed atomic structure of molecules,” the scientist said. “It’s better to do it in space because the crystals grow better--they’re more perfect.”
Such low-gravity studies have significant implications for humans because information gathered from the crystals can be used for manufacturing pharmaceuticals, such as HIV inhibitors and cancer drugs. The information also has applications in the manufacturing of insecticides, herbicides and industrial products, such as laundry detergents that use enzymes.
“We hope to get a lot of new scientific information that will be useful in physics and molecular biology and, particularly, structural biology,” McPherson said.
UCI is also working on an outreach program that teaches local students about protein crystal growth and allows them to make samples that are sent to the International Space Station, he said.
McPherson is a well-known molecular biologist who has been involved with NASA protein crystallization projects since 1984 and received the agency’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 1999. He has been with UCI for 2 1/2 years and spent the previous 19 years at UC Riverside.
