What Is Protein or Macromolecular Crystallography?

3D structure of large biological molecules

This technique employs single crystal X-ray diffraction to unambiguously determine the three-dimensional structure of large biological molecules. The determination of such molecules gives researchers insight into biology and life at the molecular level.  Given the importance of this research, Rigaku has been at the forefront in the development of a wide range of instrumentation related to various aspects of macromolecular crystallography.

One important application is structure-based drug design, a technique by which drugs are designed based on a knowledge of the three-dimensional structure of an enzyme’s active site.

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