Activities
As of June 2006, 82 TB protein structures have been determined, 15 since January 1, 2006. The database of linked structural and functional information that has been constructed using this information can form a lasting basis for understanding M. tuberculosis pathogenesis and for structure-based drug design.
As of June 2006, the TB Structural Genomics Consortium consists of 430 active members in 148 laboratories from 83 institutions across 15 countries. Consortium laboratories are collectively responsible for 3.3% of all protein structures in the Protein Data Bank and have extensive records of methods development. Consortium members have carried out a pilot project on the structural genomics of a hyperthermophile that has identified bottlenecks in the structure determination process and resulted in the development of methodologies for high-throughput structure determination and analysis. The Consortium has 5 core facilities (located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Lab, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Los Angeles and Texas A&M University) that carry out an increasing fraction of routine tasks such as protein production, crystallization and X-ray data collection. Members of the consortium improve their productivity by sending materials to these facilities, receiving the resulting products or data, and reporting this activity to the database. This helps to minimize redundant pursuits of targets. This structural and functional information is publicly available.
The 5 core facilities available to consortium members provide services for cloning, expression, and purification of proteins as well as crystallization and subsequent diffraction and data analysis of protein crystals. Furthermore, a database has been developed to record all activity done within the consortium. This database also tracks the movement of materials between members and allows the up to the minute status to be recorded and available to all other members.
Read more about this topic: Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Structural Genomics Consortium
Famous quotes containing the word activities:
“There is, I think, no point in the philosophy of progressive education which is sounder than its emphasis upon the importance of the participation of the learner in the formation of the purposes which direct his activities in the learning process, just as there is no defect in traditional education greater than its failure to secure the active cooperation of the pupil in construction of the purposes involved in his studying.”
—John Dewey (1859–1952)
“As life developed, I faced each problem as it came along. As my activities and work broadened and reached out, I never tried to shirk. I tried never to evade an issue. When I found I had something to do—I just did it.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)
“Minds do not act together in public; they simply stick together; and when their private activities are resumed, they fly apart again.”
—Frank Moore Colby (1865–1925)