The New  Florida Protein Crystals in Space Program
Co-Sponsored by The Florida Space Grant Consortium	Program Manager Robert S. Smith	Co-Sponsored by The Alabama Space Grant Consortium

Credit: NASA photograph

The "Old" Florida Protein Crystals in Space grant funding  terminated on May 31st, 2005. The program was sponsored by the Florida Space Grant Consortium through a grant mangaed by the University of North Florida.  Dr. Marianne Barnes was the Principal Investigator for the grant and Mr. Robert S. Smith was the Program Manager and Instructor. The Florida program was part of a national program managed by a group from The University of California Irvine.  In the six years of the program's existance, over a thousand Florida high school students and teachers learned about structural biology, microgravity research, and space technology and participated in a lysozyme protein crystallization classroom activity.  Over 100 of these students and teachers were selected to participate in workshops conducted at either at the University of Alabama at Hunsville (UAH) or in the vicinity of the Kennedy Space Center to make protein crystal payloads which were launched by three space shuttle missions to the International Space Station (ISS).

Credit: NASA photograph

The International Space Station (ISS)-  Athough protein crystal microgravity experiments were conducted on space shuttle missions and onboard the Russian MIR space station prior to our program, the destination for our first three missions was the ISS. In fact our first mission, STS-106, was the first science payload mission to be conducted onbord the ISS (September, 2000).

Credit: ESA-Astrium

The destination for the new program will also be the ISS. The difference will be that the payload samples will be transported to the ISS onboard a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Cosmodrome in Baikonour, Russia in October, 2008.  Our ability to fly payload samples is being made possible by a donation by Dr. Owen K. Garriott, Azstronaut; Skylab (1973) and SpaceLab (1983).  Dr. Garriott has purchased space for his son onboard Soyuz from the Russian government.  His son will carry our payload samples onboard Soyuz to the space station. The Alabama Space Grant consortium is responsible for the coordination of the new program.  The Florida Space Grant Consortium and some private donations provided the funding for our participation in the new program.

We prticipated in a workshop in Huntsville, Alabama on April 14th and 15th which was conducted by the Alabama Space Grant Consortium and  Dr. Joe Ng of the Structural Biology Department of the University of Alabama at Huntsville (UAH).  Four (4) teachers and fifteen (15) students participated from Florida along with students and teachers from Texas, Alabama, and Mississippi.  Six high schools from northeast Florida were represented at the workshop (The Bolles School, Terry Parker High School, and Stanton College Preparatory Academy in Jacksonville, Fleming Island High School in Clay County, and Eastside High School and Oak Hall School in Gainesville). One of the activities conducted at this workshop involved the students and two of the teachers making payload samples which are planned to be launched on the Soyuz rocket from Russia in October for the ISS.

We would like to thank Dr. John Gregory and Debora Nielson for their support of the Protein Crystals in Space Program	We would like to thank Dr. Jaydeep Mukhergee and Shreela Mallick for their support of the Protein Cruystals in Space Program
We would like tio thank Dr. Joe Ng and the staff of the Structural Biology Laboratory for their coordination of the Huntsville workshops	We would like to thank the officers and family members of the 1967 era VA-15 Valions for their support of the June Huntsville workshop.

Space Station Matters

Future Development Observable Protein Crystal Growth Apparatus (OPCGA) Experiment

Other Important Protein Crystals in Space links:

Track the Space Station Website (Marshall Space Flight Center)

NASA's Human Spaceflight Website

NASA's Microgravity Research Program Website (MSFC)

Microgravity News (MSFC)

Biological Crystal Growth in Space

Site Map for Research in Biological Crystal Growth in Space