Syringes, Cylinder 2, Glovebox Hip Pack, Protein Crystal Growth Experiment

This container holds three syringes of the type used in protein crystal growth experiments on the Space Shuttle. Astronauts activated experiments by injecting a solution into a growth cell to start the process of protein crystal growth. The growth cells remained in a temperature controlled apparatus for a specified time. By experimenting with different proteins, solutions, and growth conditions, researchers learned more about producing protein crystals large enough to be studied well. This knowledge is important for medical, drug, and agricultural research. A group of researchers actively involved in experiments for Shuttle flights gave these syringes and a large set of protein crystal grown equipment to the Museum.