First-Year Thiessen's Project Takes Off

Forget the Biology labs. First-year Kristofer J. Thiessen will do his experimenting in space, thank you very much.

Thiessen, a resident of Hurlbutt Hall, will launch his experiments with protein crystals on the Space Shuttle Endeavor flight STS-67, scheduled for liftoff on March 2.

Thiessen, who is a Crimson editor, has been working since 1991 to perfect a method of growing protein crystals in agarose gels, similar in texture to Jello.

Studying such crystals allows scientists to discover new pharmaceutical drugs methodically, rather than by trial and error.

Growing the crystals on Earth is difficult for researchers because gravity impedes the formation of perfect crystals, according to Thiessen. But in space, scientists can grow crystals without the adverse affects of gravity.

Perfect crystals will still be hard to grow in space because of the vibrations sustained by the spaceship during its return to Earth. But Thiessen theorizes that he will be able to overcome this problem by using a lowconcentration solution of agarose gel.

Thiessen said he believes the gel will buffer the crystals as they grow. But the concentration of the gel solution must be low enough so it does not slow the growth of the crystals.

Thiessen's mentor, Dr. Marian Lewis of the University of Alabama at Huntsville, has championed his proposal and assisted the first-year in getting permission to send his experiment on the Shuttle.

"If it works, in the future we can grow proteins into crystals that will have down-to-earth answers for diseases like AIDS, cancer, the common cold," Thiessen said.

An Early Start

Thiessen has been interested in crystals since fifth grade, when he bought his first crystal growth kit in a local toy store.

After visiting a research center near his home in Athens, Alabama, he began to grow lysozyme crystals in his kitchen from eggs.

Thiessen's experiments became more than just a hobby when he was invited by Dr. Charlie Bugg to come work at the Center for Macro-Molecular Crystalography at the University of Alabama at Birmingham during the summer before he entered the tenth grade. There, he learned about the agarose gel technique.

A talented student, Thiessen won first place in biochemistry his sophomore year and chemistry his junior year at the International Science and Engineering Fair. Thiessen has already published a paper on his work with crystals in the journal, Acta Crystallographia.

Thiessen is modest about his many accomplishments. He says that he has to work hard in his classes.

"As long as I am doing all right, and learning something at this place, I will be happy," he said.

Thiessen will be leaving today at noon for the Kennedy Space Center to prepare his experiments for flight. He has VIP passes to watch the lift-off on Thursday.