G O V E R N M E N T Protein Structure Initiative The Protein Structure Initiative (PSI), which is funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and the National Center for Research Resources, has entered its second phase. With the announcement of 10 new PSI research centers, the emphasis now shifts from methods development to the application of those methods to determine thousands of protein structures from
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several organisms, including humans. The new production phase includes two types of centers. Four large-scale research centers will use high-throughput methods and instruments developed during the initial pilot phase to produce up to 4000 protein structures over 5 years. Six specialized centers will focus on developing methods to crack the structures of a few hard-to-study proteins, such as those on cell membranes and those in
complexes with other molecules. All of the information produced by the PSI will be deposited in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) (www.rcsb.org/pdb), a public repository of 3-D protein and nucleic acid structures funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Researchers can access structures and other relevant data at the PDB to help them understand protein functions and shapes.
Journal of Proteome Research • Vol. 4, No. 4, 2005
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