Protein production and crystallization at the joint center for structural genomics

By definition, structural genomics centers must be able to address a large number of diverse protein targets. The methods developed should permit parallel and cost-effective processing while allowing for the diverse nature of proteins. Our approach to this problem is a multi-tiered effort where targets are characterized and categorized by behavior and processed in parallel by appropriate methods. The Joint Center for Structural Genomics (JCSG) has applied this tactic to create a fully integrated and scaleable structure determination pipeline. Highlights of the development of the current pipeline for protein production and crystallization are presented here.