research advances
February 2010 news
Structural genomics in the spotlight
PSI-SGKB [doi:10.1038/nw_psisgkb.2010.05]
PSI:Biology grants for technologies, 2010 Knowledgebase calendars available, and more
New PSI:Biology PAR grants announced
The Protein Structure Initiative (PSI) is dedicated to catalyzing new methods and technologies in an effort to reduce the time taken to make essential three-dimensional protein structures accessible to the biological and biomedical communities. Knowledge can be leveraged from such 3D information, allowing an understanding of biology and disease to be achieved more rapidly.
To this end, the NIGMS and PSI have released new rolling program announcements (PARs), open until 2013, that award funds for the development of technologies that will enable high-throughput structural biology and modeling efforts during the next phase of the PSI, PSI:Biology.
• PAR-10-073 Technology Development for High-Throughput Structural Biology Research (R01)
• PAR-10-074 Technology Development for High-Throughput Structural Biology Research (P01)
• PAR-10-075 Technology Development for Protein Modeling (P01)
• PAR-10-076 Technology Development for Protein Modeling (R01)
For scientific inquiries regarding the High-Throughput Enabled Structural Biology announcements (-073 and -074), please contact Charles Edmonds. For inquiries regarding the Modeling PARs (-075 and -076), please contact Ward Smith.
SGKB 2010 Calendars available
Still writing 2009 in your lab notebook? The PSI SGKB has 2010 calendars available, illustrated with our popular Featured PSI Molecule highlight. Send your name, affiliation, and mailing address to the PSI SGKB team at Email: comments@psi-structuralgenomics.org, and we will send this beautiful calendar to you.
Can't wait several days for the calendars to arrive? Download the pdf version (5 MB) right now.
Second announcement: come to the 2010 PSI Enabling Technologies Workshop
For the past several years, the PSI has held an annual workshop highlighting the latest methods, technologies, and research findings relating to the protein production and structure determination pipelines. Keeping in line with next year's new PSI:Biology project, this popular series continues with next year's workshop, entitled 'Enabling Technologies in Structure and Function'. Session topics include: 'Protein Structure and Function', 'Hybrid Methods', 'Data Mining', and 'Salvage Pathways', providing new and useful strategies against today's laboratory bottlenecks. Not limited to structural biology, these techniques can be used in a multitude of labs that conduct biological and biomedical research. Not sure what to expect? Read last year's meeting report.
The 2½ day workshop will take place on 19–21 April, 2010 at the Natcher Conference Center in Bethesda, Maryland, USA. Registration deadline is 12 April, 2010, and poster abstracts will be accepted until 1 March, 2010. For more information, visit the Enabling Technologies meeting website for more details.
Second announcement: bringing structural genomics to the biologists: PSI mini-symposium at ASBMB/EB 2010 Annual Meeting
In an effort to initiate a discussion with the broader community of biologists, the ultimate users of structural genomics and structural biology data, the Protein Structure Initiative (PSI) is holding a mini-symposium on 25–27 April, 2010 during the Experimental Biology/American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California, USA. This series of sessions spans three days, covering topics such as 'Enabling Technologies', '4000 Structures and More on the Wall: What Have We Learned', and a panel discussion with PSI directors and investigators about the next phase of the PSI project, 'PSI:Biology High- Throughput Enabled Structural Biology Partnerships'.
All attendees at the Experimental Biology conference can attend this mini-symposium with their standard registration; visit the ASBMB 2010 Meeting website for more details.
Coming to a conference near you
Want to learn more about the Structural Genomics Knowledgebase? Representatives will be available at these upcoming meetings.
Annual Biophysical Society Meeting
20–24 February 2010
San Francisco, California, USA
Keystone Symposium: Biomolecular Interaction Networks: Function and Disease
7–12 March 2010
Quèbec City, Quèbec, Canada
2010 ASBMB/Experimental Biology
24–28 April 2010
Anaheim, California, USA
