[avandonk]

Peter if you mean by Bragg diffraction from an array of molecules (crystals)with an atomic weight of greater than 50K yes. We also knew what the molecule did. Our lab could fish out the DNA and then produce the molecule in quantities suitable for characterization and structural studies. Most of the molecules I helped solve the atomic structure of were about 50 kilo daltons or more. The largest were whole virii.

We then went on and designed drugs specific only to the molecule in question! It was a case of feedback design from a precursor drug molecule and see how it reacts with the known sructure. It is called 'Intelligent Drug Design'.

By the way these days it is called Protein Crystallography. The father and son Bragg have been mentioned in previous dispatches. They got the Nobel prize for showing that atoms diffracted xrays and that the spots had a relation to the atomic positions. Reciprocal space and all that jazz!

Bert