She's been talking to Lynne Howell in the Hospital's Research Institute who recently sent an experiment on the space shuttle Columbia. The experiment was to grow a perfect crystal from a protein. Protein crystals are three-dimensional shapes that can be grown from a protein by putting it in a special solution. Proteins are made by our genes and do important work in our bodies. When something goes wrong with our proteins we may develop diseases.
Scientists have to study the proteins to understand what's wrong.
They can then develop better ways to treat disease. To study proteins, scientists must first learn how they're structured. Growing a crystal from a protein gives them a model to study. On earth, gravity makes the crystal grow unevenly. In outer space, there's no gravity, so the crystal grows perfectly.