Finding and Assessing proteIn nano-crystaLs, a Fail fAst STory

High-resolution protein structures obtained by X-ray diffraction require the production of well-ordered proteins crystals of high quality.

However, to produce well-ordered protein crystals, several bottlenecks must be addressed to screen and optimize the thousands of conditions that can lead to crystallization.

In this project, we will accelerate the process of protein crystallization by detecting early, i.e., assessing nano-crystal formation and providing immediate feedback, instead of waiting for crystals to grow, thereby saving time and money. We will use nonlinear light scattering that is highly sensitive to crystal formation.

In combination with machine learning analysis, we will develop optimization routines to predict the conditions that likely lead to crystallization in a very short time scale, hours, instead of weeks.