The Development of Small-Volume Techniques for the Rapid Study of Protein Structure

Interest in proteins has expanded beyond biology. Proteins have found use in fields as varied as lanthanide separation, solar cell technology, medicine and fluorescent dyes. To develop proteins for each of these applications, it is necessary to understand each protein's structure. Through understanding the structure we are able to either improve that protein's function or design materials to target and inhibit its function. To this end, it is necessary to be able to screen a protein's structure and to study the protein's function in a quick and efficient manner. Spectroscopic techniques are able to fill this gap due to their low material requirements. To fully take advantage of the small sample size requirements of these techniques, this thesis reports on the development of a set of small-volume methods that need minimal material and are compatible with a wide range of instrumentation.