Biological
systems and soft materials:
Future
directions in statistical physics
A symposium on the interface of statistical physics,
biology, and chemistry
Department of Physics, Virginia Tech
March 6 and 7, 2004
Invited talk:
James D. Gunton
Department of Physics,
Crystallization
of Globular Proteins
The cellular function of
globular proteins is related to their structure. As structure is determined from X-ray
crystallography, it is necessary to grow high quality protein crystals. Since nucleation is the critical step in the
crystallization of proteins from supersaturated solutions, increasing attention
is being given to determining the conditions for optimal crystal nucleation. This talk will focus on various models that
have been proposed for globular proteins, all of which possess a metastable critical point.
The presence of this metastable critical point
has been shown to help optimize the nucleation process. A brief discussion will also be given to
diseases related to globular protein crystallization, including genetic human
cataracts and sickle cell anemia.