Better protein crystals using pressure

What is it about?

X-ray crystallography lets us find out what protein molecules look like, but it requires well-ordered crystals of the protein. Unfortunately, the molecules in the crystal are often disordered in some way, making it hard or impossible to determine the molecular structure. Sometimes, applying pressure to the crystals will reduce the disorder and crystallography will then be able to show us a good picture of the protein.

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Why is it important?

Knowing structures of proteins, on the atomic level, is essential to understanding how they work. The method of high pressure cryocooling adds to our toolbox of ways to get good structures in difficult cases.