A New Way to Grow Crystals One at a Time for Better Disease Research
Official title: A Single Entity Method for Controlled Nucleation and Crystal Growth
Funded at Georgia State University · NIH-11389510 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This grant aims to develop a method to grow single crystals of biomolecules with atomic precision, helping scientists understand how these molecules work in health and disease.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Georgia State University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Atlanta, United States) |
| Project start | September 1, 2023 |
| Project end | August 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $304,977 |
| NIH project number | 5R01GM151275-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11389510 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Not applicable to patients directly; the grant focuses on a technology to study biomolecules that could later impact patient care.
✕Less likely to help
There is no immediate patient involvement or direct benefit to participants in this stage of development.
What this research studies
Researchers will create a technology called NanoAC to grow one crystal at a time using a single nanotip, while watching the process with electroanalytical and optical tools. This could provide much clearer structural details of important biomolecules, which are essential for understanding their roles in biology and disease. The project focuses on improving accuracy beyond current methods to help in drug design and biomedical research. The work is conducted at Georgia State University under the supervision of GanGli Wang and associated team. Real-time monitoring and predictive quality checks are central to the approach.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the method could yield highly accurate molecular structures that facilitate better drug design and a deeper understanding of diseases at the atomic level.
How similar studies have gone: Previous methods have advanced biomolecular structures, but single-entity crystal growth with real-time monitoring represents a novel approach.
Where this research is happening
-
Georgia State University
Atlanta, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Wang, Gangli — Georgia State University
- Study coordinator: Wang, Gangli
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.