Fact sheet number: FS-2002-2002-84-MSFC Missions: Expedition 6,
ISS Mission 11A, STS-113 Space Shuttle Flight, return flight
ULF1, STS-114 Experiment Location on ISS: U.S. Lab EXPRESS Rack
No. 4 Principal Investigator: Dr. Daniel C. Carter, New Century
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Huntsville, Ala. Project Manager: Clark
Darty, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Structural biology experiments conducted in the Diffusion-
controlled Crystallization Apparatus for Microgravity (DCAM) may
improve our understanding of the function of important
macromolecules and possibly contribute to the development of new
therapeutics. Scientists select macromolecules, crystallize
them, and use the crystals to determine the atomic arrangements
of atoms within the molecules using intense beams of x-rays or
neutrons - a process and field of research known as
'crystallography.' Knowledge gained through crystallography has
played a key role in understanding many important chemical and
biological processes. The determinati