Protein Structure Initiative gets new strength

Abstract

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part of the National Institutes of Health, has recently announced that two new members will take part in its Protein Structure Initiative (PSI) for structural genomics research. The PSI core is a network of research centres, with each centre representing a consortium of universities, private research institutions, government agencies and industrial partners. The two new awards have been given to the Structural Genomics of Pathogenic Protozoa Consortium, which will work to develop new methods and technologies to resolve structures of proteins from protozoans responsible for diseases such as malaria and sleeping sickness, and to the Center for Eukaryotic Structural Genomics, to develop high-throughput methods for protein production, characterization and structure determination from Arabidopsis thaliana. An advisory committee, chaired by Brian Matthews of the University of Oregon (Eugene, OR, USA), has also been established to advise NIGMS on the management of the PSI initiative through its distinguished pilot and productive phases. In the initial pilot phase, scientists are expected to push the boundaries of existing techniques for structure determination towards greater automation, whereas the second phase will be devoted to the rapid production of thousands of novel protein structures per year. By investing some $200 million in this ambitious effort, NIGMS has acquired the status of the largest single funder of research in structural genomics in the world. AR