Watershed crystal

Beryllium LLC and The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have found a way to crystallize myeloid leukemia cell differentiation protein (MCL1) that can be used for both its free and ligand-bound forms. The partners discovered that when bound, the ligand is rotated 180˚ to what previous models suggested, and they now plan to use the structure to design better MCL1 inhibitors.

Beryllium's Matthew Clifton told BioCentury the new structural information will allow the partners to create a high-throughput screening system based on a "hit or miss" strategy, and that the method could help with other difficult-to-crystallize proteins. Clifton is a manager of structural biology at the CRO...