Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	EP/J005452/1
Title:	C-DIP Fellowship fund 2010 call: Interdisciplinary studies of proteins and seedlings in a strong gradient magnetic field
Principal Investigator:	Hill, Dr R J A
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department:	Sch of Physics & Astronomy
Organisation:	University of Nottingham
Scheme:	Standard Research
Starts:	01 September 2011	Ends:	31 August 2016	Value (£):	8,536
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Magnetism/Magnetic Phenomena Plant physiology Tools for the biosciences
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
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Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
Protein molecules are involved in nearly every process within the cells of a biological organism. Determining the chemical structure of a protein is essential to understand the mechanism by which the protein interacts with the cell and its function within the cell. It is key to understanding many diseases. X-ray crystallography is the most common method of protein structural analysis. This technique requires growing a protein into a single crystals, with as few crystal defects as possible. In many cases, it is difficult to grow high quality crystals large enough to obtain an x-ray structure. Research has recently shown how a cluster of smaller 'crystallites' can be aligned by a strong magnetic field so that it behaves like a single large crystal, suitable for x-ray crystallography. We will determine whether this technique can be used to obtain the x-ray structure of a protein problematic for current techniques. A germinating seed may be buried in the soil at any angle. It is, of course, very important for the growing seedling to know which way is 'up', in order for it to send its embryonic root and shoots in the correct directions. A growing seedling can determine the direction of 'up' and 'down' directly by sensing the direction of gravity. The mechanism by which the plant cells detect the direction of gravity remains to be fully elucidated. By using a strong magnetic field to apply forces to the cellular gravity sense structures, we will attempt to alter the response of the plant to gravity, in order to obtain additional clues to the sense mechanism itself. We will also investigate the response of the growing seedling to a pseudo altered gravity and zero-gravity environments, which will inform future space missions.
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Organisation Website:	http://www.nottingham.ac.uk