Daniel Frankel
Papers
2
Total Citations
37
H-Index
2
About
Daniel Frankel is a researcher whose work sits at the intersection of robotics, automation, and structural biology, with a particular focus on advancing high-throughput protein crystallography. His most recognized contributions center on solving one of the field's most persistent technical challenges: the harvesting and mounting of protein crystals for X-ray diffraction analysis. In his highly cited 2007 work, "Operator-assisted harvesting of protein crystals using a universal micromanipulation robot," Frankel demonstrated how robotic systems could be integrated into crystallization pipelines to automate the delicate and labor-intensive process of crystal harvesting — a bottleneck that had resisted full automation even as other stages of the pipeline became increasingly streamlined. With 26 citations, this paper made a meaningful contribution to the structural biology instrumentation community. His complementary 2007 piece critically examined whether automated robotic harvesting represented a genuine technological leap or an overengineered solution, reflecting a nuanced and pragmatic perspective on laboratory automation. Frankel's work is valuable to researchers seeking to improve efficiency in structural genomics and drug discovery pipelines, where rapid protein structure determination is essential. His contributions highlight the importance of thoughtful engineering in translating biological research workflows into scalable, automated systems.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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