The Effect of a Halogen Ion on Insulin Crystallography
Authors:
- Students:
- Zi-Yi Choo
- Evelyn Darden
- Zachary Espinosa
- Eric Guo
- Meghna Nagam
- Sarvasva Raghuvanshi
- Teachers:
- Daria Prawlocki
- Mentors:
- David Smith (Argonne National Laboratory, LS-CAT)
Advanced Photon Source Sector 21: LS-CAT
Insulin is composed of two peptide chains, A and B, that are joined together by a disulfide bond.
Insulin functions in response to elevated blood glucose levels; it communicates through cell signaling pathways to increase the rate of glucose absorption into muscle and fat cells via Glut4.
X-ray crystallography is used to determine the shape of crystals by recording the specific angles and intensities in which the x-rays reflected off the crystal. By analyzing the patterns in the data, scientists can determine the exact structure of the crystal.
Crystallization is the technique used to purify solid compounds. This process excludes impurities thus allowing crystals to be filtered from a solution.