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.

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