title: An Overview of Hardware for Protein Crystallization in a Magnetic Field.
abstract: Protein crystallization under a magnetic field is an interesting research topic because a magnetic field may provide a special environment to acquire improved quality protein crystals. Because high-quality protein crystals are very useful in high-resolution structure determination using diffraction techniques (X-ray, neutron, and electron diffraction), research using magnetic fields in protein crystallization has attracted substantial interest; some studies have been performed in the past two decades. In this research field, the hardware is especially essential for successful studies because the environment is special and the design and utilization of the research apparatus in such an environment requires special considerations related to the magnetic field. This paper reviews the hardware for protein crystallization (including the magnet systems and the apparatus designed for use in a magnetic field) and progress in this area. Future prospects in this field will also be discussed.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Space Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China. yerkai@mail.nwpu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Er-Kai
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Space Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China. zhangchenyan@nwpu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Chen-Yan
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Space Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China. hej@mail.nwpu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Institute for Special Environmental Biophysics, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Space Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China. yindc@nwpu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Da-Chuan
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Yin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003460:Crystallization / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D060526:Magnetic Fields; D008280:Magnetics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins
keywords: apparatus; magnetic field; protein crystallization; superconducting magnet