P.M. Collins

Papers

Total Citations

123

H-Index

About

P.M. Collins is a structural biologist whose work has significantly advanced the field of X-ray crystallography, particularly in the realm of high-throughput ligand-binding studies. Collins’s primary research focuses on developing innovative methodologies to streamline the notoriously slow step of crystal soaking, which is critical for drug discovery and understanding protein-ligand interactions. Their most impactful contribution is the pioneering use of acoustic droplet ejection for crystal soaking, a technique that is both gentle and remarkably efficient. This method, detailed in their highly cited 2017 paper (119 citations), directly addresses the bottleneck created by modern beamlines, which can collect data far faster than samples can be prepared. By enabling the rapid, precise, and non-destructive delivery of ligands to crystals, Collins’s work has dramatically increased the throughput of structural studies. This achievement not only accelerates the pace of fundamental research but also holds immense promise for industrial drug development pipelines, making Collins a key figure in the ongoing evolution of structural biology towards greater automation and efficiency.