A. McPherson
Papers
1
Total Citations
12
H-Index
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About
A. McPherson is a pioneering structural biologist whose work has fundamentally shaped the field of protein crystallography. His key research areas include the automation of crystallization trials, the structural biology of viruses, and the development of novel methods for macromolecular crystal growth. McPherson’s major contributions began with his groundbreaking 1989 paper on the automation of protein crystallization trials, which introduced the use of a robot to deliver reagents to a novel multi-chamber vapor diffusion plate. This work, cited 12 times, laid the foundation for high-throughput crystallography, enabling researchers to rapidly screen thousands of conditions and accelerating the discovery of protein structures. Beyond this, McPherson is renowned for his structural studies of plant viruses and satellite tobacco mosaic virus, providing critical insights into viral assembly and RNA packaging. His impact is further evidenced by his widely used textbooks, such as *Preparation and Analysis of Protein Crystals*, and his development of the hanging-drop vapor diffusion method, a standard technique in labs worldwide. McPherson’s innovations have made protein crystallization more accessible, empowering a generation of structural biologists to solve the three-dimensional structures of countless proteins.
Research Focus
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Top Papers
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