Acquisition of a X-ray Diffractometer and Accessory Equipment

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This proposal request funds for the purchase of an x-ray diffractometer and accessory equipment. This instrument would provide data on the structure of biological micro-molecules which is essential for an understanding of relationship between structure and function. Professors Benkowic, Farber, Matthews Villafranca in the Chemistry Department and Professors Johnson and Tien in the Molecular and Cell Biology Department at the Pennsylvania State University are involved in a variety of projects which probe different aspects of the folding, stability and activity of enzymes. Their efforts have resulted in a large body of data on the solution phase properties of these proteins which they would now like to understand in terms of the three-dimensional structure. In many cases, the genes for these proteins have been cloned into high expression vectors and can be manipulated by protein engineering. An X-ray Diffraction Facility would provide a means of obtaining high resolution structural data on the naturally- occurring proteins and the mutants constructed to probe the structure/function/folding relationships. The information obtained would play a crucial role in advancing the knowledge of proteins and greatly improve the possibility of harnessing these macromolecules to solve pressing problems in medicine, biochemistry and chemistry.