Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Diseases – Year VIII

Capabilities: 
Closed Date: 
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Lead Institution: 
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator: 
Garry Buchko
Project ID: 
48683
Abstract: 

The Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease (http://ssgcid.org), is one of two Structural Genomics Centers (SGCs) funded by NIAID to solve protein structures from biodefense organisms and emerging infectious diseases. The SGCs actively engage with infectious disease researchers to select Community Request (CR) targets for entry in the pipeline and to collaboratively interpret and publish results from successful structure determinations. SSGCID target selection focuses on essential enzymes, virulence factors, drug targets and vaccine candidates from 8 bacterial, 12 protozoan, and 14 viral genera. Target genes are PCR amplified, cloned and screened for expression in E. coli. Soluble proteins are purified in milligram amounts, screened for crystallization, and analyzed by X-ray diffraction using an in-house source or off-site synchrotron beam-line. Small proteins that fail to crystallize are queued for structure determination by NMR. To date, over halve of the structures solved using NMR-based methods used NMR data collected at EMSL. All SSGCID expression clones, purified proteins, and structures are publicly available. The vision is that these structures will serve as starting points for structure-based drug design against infectious diseases.