Crystal Power

Drug makers have a protein problem. Proteins are potential drug targets, but growing a protein crystal-the first step in determining its structure-can take months of trial-and-error experimentation and cost millions of dollars in materials. Fluidigm, a startup in South San Francisco, CA, has developed a chip that allows researchers to grow protein crystals using one-hundredth the amount of the protein, saving money and slashing weeks-even months-off the time needed for this step.

To get good crystals, biochemists must test hundreds of possible combinations of protein and crystallization reagent: setting up each experiment can take hours, and its success depends on having enough protein on hand. Fluidigm's chip allows simultaneous testing of 144 different crystallization conditions. Using just three microliters of protein sample-a tiny fraction of a drop-the chip diffuses the protein across three distinct concentrations of each of 48 crystallization reagents. Researchers screen the chip for crystals using a microscope; if they find crystals with a particular combination, they can grow more of them and then determine the protein's structure. The company hopes to begin marketing the chips to pharmaceutical and biotech companies early this year.

Pilot's Pal

Aircraft cockpits use an array of gauges and dials that pilots read one by one but must understand collectively. A visual interface developed by David Still, a researcher at the University of West Florida's Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola, FL, gives pilots all the information they need in a single graphic display. The interface shows the plane's position, orientation, speed, and systems status, as well as the location of runways and approaching aircraft. A software model takes the place of the rules of thumb pilots normally use to process the data, says Still, a pilot trained in vision science. To give the engines the right amount of power, for instance, a pilot needs only to align certain geometrical shapes on the display screen. Flight simulator tests in Still's lab suggest that the system is safer and more effective than conventional displays, especially when pilots are dealing with turbulence or reading maps. Still has patented the interface and is working with the U.S. Navy to conduct field tests.