Microgravity

Vapor Diffusion Apparatus (VDA and VDA-2) was developed by the University of Alabama in Birmingham for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. In the original VDA, a protein solution and a precipitant are extruded by two plungers onto the tip of a small syringe and allowed to evaporate, raising the concentration and prompting protein molecules to crystallize. In the VDA-2 version, a third plunger was added to mix the two solutions before returning the mix to the syringe tip. The principal investigator is Dr. Larry Delucas of the University of Alabama in Birmingham