Standing Out While All "Packed" Together

I use biophysical methods to characterize enzymes in the purine biosynthetic pathway of the bacteria Bacillus anthracis. This image shows the crystal structure packing of PurK at 2 Å resolution in which I solved via X-ray diffraction at Argonne's APS (Advanced Photon Source). To form a crystal to be able to diffract, the protein has to form a highly ordered packing arrangement. To me this image represents the thousands of graduate students all "packed" together seeming to be doing the same routine... research. I changed the color of the center molecule to red as another representation, that it only takes one to stand out and be a leader, much like it takes that first molecule to start the orderly formation that ends up being a quality crystal. To generate this image I used PyMOL, which is software open to the public.