Rigaku Alchemist II Crystallisation Screen Maker, Phoenix Reservoir and Protein Nano Dispenser, Gallery 160 Plate Hotel for Plate Storage and Handling, Desktop Minstrel UV Plate Inspection and Scoring System

The protein crystallography platform that we wish to establish at UKZN involves several interdependent items of expensive capital equipment operating between the Departments of Biochemistry and Chemistry towards a single goal: the determination of high-resolution 3D X-ray structures for proteins and protein-drug complexes. The protein crystallizing robotics system and accompanying incubator unit is set up to monitor, grow, and score protein crystallizations in 96-well plates. This robotics system is housed in the Department of Biochemistry and will be furnished with samples of pure proteins by researchers at UKZN for crystallization. In short, the primary goal of this application is to fund a multi-user robotic protein crystallizer at UKZN and thus to foster the establishment of a world-class structural molecular biology and drug discovery research consortium at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.