In this issue... 

1997 Santa Fe Highlights 
Patrinos Address 
Joint Genome Institute (JGI) Comes of Age 
JGI Sequencing 
JGI Informatics 
JGI and Bermuda Quality Sequence 
Grants Awarded for JGI Collaboration 
JGI Sequencing Clones 
Sequencing Strategies,Tools 
Gene-Discovery Resources 
Sequencing at NIH NHGRI 
Functional Genomics 
Data Surge Challenges Informaticists 
Genome Annotation: Informatics Advances Needed for Age of Functional Genomics 
ELSI: Rapid Progress Accelerates Societal Impact of Genome Research 
1999 DOE HGP Meeting Set for California 

Human Genome Project Administration 
New 5-Year Goals, Project Midpoint 
DOE, NIH Discuss Informatics 
JASON Group Review 
BER Genome Instrumentation Research 

In the News 
Private-Sector Sequencing Plan 
Bang for the Buck: Government-Backed Research Underpins Potentially High Payoff Ventures 
Palmisano Joins DOE OBER 
DNA Files series to be on NPR 
HUGO Addresses Sample Collection 
Sickle Cell Mice May Lead to New Treatments 
TIGR Sequencing 6 More Microbes 
Tuberculosis Microbe Sequenced 
C. Elegans Sequencing Nears Finish 
HGMIS Website Restructured 
cDNA Cloning Workshop Identifies Critical Issues 
Survey Identifies Growing Need for Synchrotron Analyses 
NCGR Announcements 

Publications 
Report on Functional Consequences of Gene Expression 
Book on Tuskegee Conference 
Book Focuses on Biomarker Implications, Conference Proceedings 
Genome Analysis Protocol Handbook 

Software and the Internet 
Mouse Genome Informatics Release 2.0 
New System Identifies Polymorphisms 
DOE Supports Web Site for 1997 AAAS Genome Symposium 
Expressed Human Genome Database 

Funding 
DOE ELSI 
NIH NHGRI 
NHGRI Initiates Mailing List 
U.S. Genome Research Funding 

Meeting Calendars & Acronyms 
Genome and Biotechnology Meetings 
Training Courses and Workshops 
Acronyms 

HGN archives and subscriptions   
HGP Information home 

After the Genome Project: Understanding the Data

Survey Identifies Growing Need for Synchrotron Analyses

Structural Biology and Synchrotron Radiation: Evaluation of Resources and Needs (1997) is a report on the current status of biological uses and demands of synchrotron radiation in the United States. For this report, staff at the synchrotron radiation facilities and their user communities were surveyed, and a group of experienced structural biologists analyzed the data.

In evaluating what synchrotron facilities and support operations are needed and in anticipating future requirements for sustaining the exciting progress in structural biology, the BioSync Committee noted the expanded impact of structural biology in recent years. This expansion has led to an increase in the size and complexity of macromolecular structures being determined and in the difficulty of experiments being pursued. Structural biology is having a widening effect on such diverse fields as immunology, neurobiology, cell biology, virology, physiology, molecular biology, medicine, and biotechnology.

Recent advances in structural biology can be attributed to (1) methodological improvements that allow a vast array of cellular proteins to be cloned and expressed in quantities sufficient for structural studies, (2) use of cryocrystallography to prepare extremely stable crystals, and (3) availability of and technological innovations at synchrotron radiation facilities (see Envisioning the Proteome.) These factors have brought many more projects of high biological significance into the realm of structural biology. Without synchrotron sources, many of these new research projects could not have been undertaken.

The BioSync Committee reached the following main conclusions:

• Structural biology research is producing results of high biological impact that have a direct bearing on human health issues.
• Synchrotron radiation, combined with multiwavelength anomalous diffraction phasing, has revolutionized the discovery of new macromolecular structures.
• Noncrystallographic applications to structural biology continue to expand.
• Demand for structural information and synchrotron time is growing very rapidly in all molecular fields of biology.
• Regional facilities will increase in importance.
• The most cost-effective way to improve throughput at synchrotron facilities is to upgrade existing beamlines.
• More cooperation is highly recommended among organizations funding synchrotron facilities and basic research.
• A BioSync report published in 1991 concluded that structural biology, especially crystallography, was a very rapidly expanding field with a growing impact on basic and applied biology and that synchrotron radiation facilities available at the time were insufficient for the community's needs. Construction of additional beamlines and improved support for existing beamlines were recommended. Much of this increase has been realized with new facilities at Argonne and Berkeley and additional beamlines for biological use at Brookhaven, Stanford, and Cornell.

1997 BioSync Report

• Electronic version: http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis/biosync
• Print copies: J. Hollister; Department of Biological Sciences; Purdue University; West Lafayette, IN 47907

Related Information

• http://www.er.doe.gov/production/ober/HELSRD_top.html (click on "Structural Biology")

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  The electronic form of the newsletter may be cited in the following style:
  Human Genome Program, U.S. Department of Energy, Human Genome News (v9n3).