Students experiment in space

A team of Homewood High School AP chemistry students were selected to participate in a project titled “A Comprehensive Evaluation of Microgravity Protein Crystallization” with Dr. Larry DeLucas, director of the Center for Biophysical Sciences and Engineering at UAB.  

More than 90 students from central Alabama representing 10 different schools are participating in both the ground-based and flight-based experiments. In addition to the ground-based research, every school will have the opportunity to fly up to 10 different protein samples in space and analyze the results upon their return to Earth.   

Homewood students visited the Center for Biophysical Sciences and Engineering in October to prepare their protein crystals for the tentative February launch of the SpaceX-3 unmanned rocket. Their crystals will be allowed to grow in microgravity and will return to Earth for analysis. HHS teacher Kelly Reaves will lead these students through this opportunity.