IceBear: an intuitive and versatile web application for research-data tracking from crystallization experiment to PDB deposition.

The web-based IceBear software is a versatile tool to monitor the results of crystallization experiments and is designed to facilitate supervisor and student communications. It also records and tracks all relevant information from crystallization setup to PDB deposition in protein crystallography projects. Fully automated data collection is now possible at several synchrotrons, which means that the number of samples tested at the synchrotron is currently increasing rapidly.

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction studies of an alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase from Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

alpha-Methylacyl-CoA racemase is a key enzyme in the metabolism of 2-methyl-branched fatty acids and, in mammals, in the conversion of cholesterol to bile acids. The enzyme from Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been purified to homogeneity and crystallized by the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method. The crystals of the unliganded racemase belong to space group P6(1)22 or P6(5)22, with unit-cell parameters a = b = 122.