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IUL Biotechnology Series, 7 |
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by Naomi E. Chayen (Editor) |
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Edition: First |
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Book
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| Editorial Reviews |
| In review Book News, Inc.®, Portland, OR |
| Reviews |
| Raymond C. Stevens, Professor, The
Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California |
| During the 1980s
and early 1990s, we observed a tremendous breakthrough in our
understanding of the physical chemistry of macromolecular
crystallization due to the pioneering efforts of several leaders in the
field. However, the determination of protein 3-dimensional structure
was still a slow process, often taking years to complete. In the mid to
late 1990s, a new renaissance of protein crystallography occurred with
the development of increased throughput nanovolume crystallization
robotic methods, microfluidic counter diffusion, creative screens and
optimization techniques, crystal imaging, and novel crystallization
methods for the very challenging membrane proteins and large
macromolecular complexes. In the fast paced world of high throughput
protein crystallization, this work was established by many of the
authors in this book and the areas are comprehensively covered. Protein
Crystallization Strategies for Structural Genomics will be highly
valuable to those experimentalist interested in understanding,
reproducing, or expanding upon the recent innovations. It will be an
essential reference for the many small and medium size laboratories
that are starting or are planning to adopt these systems and
approaches. The clarity, thoroughness, and simplicity of the chapters
are impressive. The best analogy for this compendium is the early days
of gene sequencing when technology development was critical in moving
radioactive gel sequencing to fluorescent capillary automated methods.
This book is the beginning of a similar movement, initiating the vision
of rapid macromolecular structure determination for providing a deeper
understanding of the molecular science of life. What this book
accomplishes and that many other similar books miss are the critical
details necessary to understand, and further expand upon protein
crystallization strategies for structural biology. |
Surprisingly, in spite of the impressive advances accomplished, the crystallization problem has not been solved. High throughput has not yet resulted in high output and the current challenge is to design new and improved techniques (of screening and optimization) for the production of useful crystals. Scientists worldwide have taken on the challenge by tackling the crystallization problem from a variety of different aspects.
Research advances in recent years have opened up the scope for the development of new methods and tools to overcome the bottleneck of protein crystallization. A variety of parameters that could previously not be explored are now accessible thanks to sophisticated apparatus and the development of new science-based techniques to monitor and control the process of crystallization. However, in order to become useful to the structural genomics effort, it is vital to miniaturize and automate these techniques and adapt them to cope with the vast numbers of “leads” resulting from the high-throughput screening procedures. Such efforts are those of the immediate future and the focus of this book.