Protein Crystallization Hits

This is the list of answers that I got today from a quick and informal survey that I conducted over 'lunch' with some of our crystallographers: 'what's been the best thing that happened in 2010 in the world of crystallization / crystallography?'

Here we go with the highly opinionated 'Best of 2010 in Protein Crystallography' (in no particular order):

• Iodide and Sulphur SAD phasing catching on big time
• Remote access to GM/CA-CAT & LS-CAT at the Argonne Advanced Photon Source
• Emerald's Plugmaker winning the 2010 Lab Automation New Product Award
• Fabrice Gorrec's Morpheus crystallization screen (it is a 2009 publication, but its impact was felt mostly in 2010)
• The entire 2010 April issue of Acta D on phasing, software tools and best practices

These are my two personal favorites in the 'Best New Software' category: Mendeley (keeping track of ones research PDF collection) and new de-novo feature of the E-Wizard online crystallization screen generator. But where's the 'best 2010 protein crystallization iPhone app?'.

Not directly related to the field of protein crystallography, but this one could serve as an example for us crystallographers:

• The clever choice of the name for the bacteria that have phosphate exchanged by arsenate atoms. Strain GFAJ-1 stands for "Give Felisa A Job" (first author of the paper is Felisa Wolfe-Simon).

Happy 'last days of the decade without a name',

Peter

While the topic of protein crystallization lost out on the 2010 Nobel Prizes, I herewith award the Funniest Protein Crystallization paper ever

to: Terese Berfors for introducing witty humor into a protein crystallization paper while protecting the lives of animals.

This award is based on a 2003 paper where Terese reviews protein crystallization seeding techniques in a 'tips and tricks' - style paper. Specifically she points out how seeding wands can be made from animal hair, such as cat whiskers and horse hail hair. 

Bergfors, T. (2003)

Seeds to crystals  

Journal of Structural Biology, 142 (1), 66-76 DOI: 10.1016/S1047-8477(03)00039-X

Check out the image below, showing a "Scanning electron micrograph of a horse hair tail with an attached crystal". While this is pretty neat, she also shows an image of the back end of a horse: 

and then comes the figure legend (b) where she writes "An abundant source of material for seeding wands can be found at the flexible C-terminus of this animal."

This cracks me up every time I see it.  Thank you so much, Terese for the Endophin spikes your 2003 paper gives me every so often.

The paper ends on a more serious and highly laudable "technical note" where Terese reminds researchers not to partake in any animal cruelty acts but to simply purchase the protein streak seeding devices she recommends:

No need to agonize your cat, cat whiskers can be purchased.

I checked the Charles River website, called up their technical support and have not yet received an order number for cat whiskers yet. Does anybody reading this know where to purchase cat whiskers from?

Thanks,

Peter

The NIH has announced on Sept 30 the members of the third Protein Structure Initiative: PSI:Biology Centers for High-Throughput Structure Determination.

Altogether there are 23 grants for structural biology research totaling up to $290 million over the next five years. This is the list of the centers that are expected to 'produce protein structures for functional studies'.

My   C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S   go to:

Joint Center for Structural Genomics
Principal investigator: Ian A. Wilson, D.Phil., Scripps Research Institute

Midwest Center for Structural Genomics
Principal investigator: Andrzej Joachimiak, Ph.D., University of Chicago

New York Structural Genomics Research Consortium
Principal investigator: Steven Almo, Ph.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University

Northeast Structural Genomics Consortium
Principal investigator: Gaetano T. Montelione, Ph.D., Rutgers University

Center for Membrane Proteins in Infectious Diseases
Principal investigator: Petra Fromme, Ph.D., Arizona State University

Center for Structure of Membrane Proteins
Principal investigator: Robert M. Stroud, Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco

Center for the X-ray Structure Determination of Human Transporters
Principal investigators: Douglas C. Rees, Ph.D., California Institute of Technology; Geoffrey A. Chang, Ph.D., Scripps Research Institute; Michael H.B. Stowell, Ph.D., University of Colorado

GPCR Network
Principal investigator: Raymond C. Stevens, Ph.D., Scripps Research Institute

Membrane Protein Structural Biology Consortium
Principal investigators: Michael G. Malkowski, Ph.D., Hauptman Woodward Medical Institute; Mark E. Dumont, Ph.D., University of Rochester; Michael Wiener, Ph.D., University of Virginia

Membrane Protein Structures by Solution NMR
Principal investigator: James J. Chou, Ph.D., Harvard University Medical School

New York Consortium on Membrane Protein Structure
Principal investigator: Wayne A. Hendrickson, Ph.D., New York Structural Biology Center

Transcontinental EM Initiative for Membrane Protein Structure
Principal investigator: David L. Stokes, Ph.D., New York Structural Biology Center

Transmembrane Protein Center
Principal investigator: Brian G. Fox, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison

Assembly, Dynamics and Evolution of Cell-Cell and Cell-Matrix Adhesions
Principal investigators: Robert Liddington, Ph.D., Burnham Institute for Medical Research; William James Nelson, Ph.D., Stanford University

Atoms-to-Animals: Structural Genomics of Immunity
Principal investigator: Stanley G. Nathenson, M.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University

Chaperone-Enabled Studies of Epigenetic Regulation Enzymes
Principal investigator: Anthony A. Kossiakoff, Ph.D., University of Chicago

Consortia for High-Throughput-Enabled Structural Biology Partnerships
Principal investigator: Joshua N. Adkins, Ph.D., Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories

Partnership for High-Throughput-Enabled Biology of the Mitochondrial Proteome
Principal investigator: John L. Markley, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison

Ribonucleoprotein Complexes Regulating T-Cell Activation
Principal investigators: James R. Williamson, Ph.D., Scripps Research Institute; Daniel R. Salomon, M.D., Scripps Research Institute

Structure, Dynamics and Activation Mechanisms of Chemokine Receptors
Principal investigators: Tracy M. Handel, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego; Ruben A. Abagyan, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego

Structure-Function Studies of Tight Junction Membrane Proteins
Principal investigator: Alan S. Yu, M.D., University of Southern California

Structures of Mtb Proteins Conferring Susceptibility to Known Mtb Inhibitors
Principal investigator: James C. Sacchettini, Ph.D., Texas A&M University

Structures of Protein Complexes Regulating Transcription in Embryonic Stem Cells
Principal investigator: Robert J. Fletterick, Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco

Materials Repository
Principal investigator: Josh Labaer, Ph.D., Arizona State University

Structural Biology Knowledgebase
Principal investigator:: Helen Berman, Ph.D., Rutgers University

Over the years there have been a number of Nobel Prizes awarded to scientists that have used their protein crystallization skills to provide unprecedented insight, usually at atomic resolution, into important biological processes. In appreciation of their contribution I had put these 12 crystallization heroes into the Protein Crystallizers Hall of Fame with the crystallization and structure determination of these proteins: Ribosome (2009), Water & Ion Channels (2003), RNA Polymerase (2006), Photosynthetic Reaction Centre (1988), Ion transporters (1997).

Which are the possible Protein Crystallization-related Nobel Prizes this year? What do you think - which of these target areas would you consider for a 2010 Nobel Prize (Chemistry or Medicine)?

Or here if you prefer to vote via your LinkedIn account: 

There are plenty of reasons to select these protein structures since they have provided useful insight into biological function and should therefore be worthy a 2010 Nobel Prize:

Let's keep in mind though, that the Nobel Committee may take a break from structural biology in 2010 and focus on these areas that come to mind:

□ Discoveries of pluripotent stem cells / dentritic cells

□ Technologies: human genomics, sequencing, DNA microarrays

□ Pathways and Drugs: Leptin, DNA metallo intercalators

Now, with the 2010 Nobel Prize announcements coming up next week I'm keeping my fingers crossed for yet another award for this fine scientific craft. The announcements are expected to be made on

Regardless of the outcome next week, it's definitely an occasion that's worth getting a bottle of champagne out of fridge!

Cheers,

Peter