New York Structural Biology Center Inc

SEE SCHEDULE O.TO OPERATE A STATE-OF-THE-ART FACILITY FOR ADVANCE RESEARCH IN STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY AND PROVIDE ADVANCED RESOURCES TO THE FACULTY OF ITS PARTICIPATING MEMBER INSTITUTIONS.

RESEARCH CONDUCTED AT THE SIMONS ELECTRON MICROSCOPY CENTER (SEMC) IS AIMED AT DETERMINING THE STRUCTURE OF MACROMOLECULES TO HELP UNDERSTAND THEIR FUNCTION. THE FACILITY HAS 13 TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPES AS WELL AS TWO DUAL-BEAM FOCUSED ION BEAM SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPES. SEMC IS ACTIVELY SERVING OVER 200 USERS FROM NYSBC'S NINE MEMBER INSTITUTIONS AS WELL AS USERS FROM THE NATIONAL COMMUNITY THROUGH NYSBC AND NIH-FUNDED CENTERS AND RESOURCES (NATIONAL RESOURCE FOR AUTOMATED MOLECULAR MICROSCOPY, NATIONAL CENTER FOR CRYOEM ACCESS AND TRAINING AND NATIONAL CENTER FOR IN-SITU TOMOGRAPHIC ULTRAMICROSCOPY). SEMC ALSO PROVIDES EXTENSIVE TRAINING TO MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY THROUGH WORKSHOPS, COURSES, AND OTHER TRAINING SESSIONS. IN SEVERAL PROJECTS, SEMC STAFF HAS BEEN INVOLVED EXTENSIVELY AS COLLABORATORS CONTRIBUTING TO SOLVING THE STRUCTURES OF: INSULIN BOUND INSULIN RECEPTORS, INSULIN DEGRADATION ENZYME, CRISPR-CAS SURVEILLANCE COMPLEX, HIV TRIMER COMPLEXES, ENZYMES RESPONSIBLE TO RESISTANCE AGAINST MALARIA DRUGS, AND MANY DRUG TARGETS, E.G., AGAINST DISEASES LIKE TUBERCULOSIS AND COVID-19. A TOTAL OF 68 PAPERS ACKNOWLEDGED SEMC SUPPORT IN 2021.

NYSBC PROVIDES ACCESS TO HIGH-FIELD NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE (NMR) SPECTROSCOPY TO FACULTY FROM ITS NINE MEMBER INSTITUTIONS. THE NMR FACILITY INSTRUMENTATION INCLUDES NINE NMR SPECTROMETERS THAT GENERALLY OPERATE 24 HRS/DAY, 7 DAYS/WEEK. IN 2021, EACH SPECTROMETER WAS AVAILABLE, ON AVERAGE, 332 DAYS, OTHER THAN ONE NMR SPECTROMETER THAT WAS BEING REPAIRED. THESE RESOURCES ALLOW RESEARCHERS TO DETERMINE THE STRUCTURE OF PROTEINS IN SOLUTION AND IN SOLID STATE ATOMIC RESOLUTION, DATA THAT PROVIDES INSIGHT INTO THE FUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES OF THE PROTEINS. IN 2021, GROUP MEMBERS FROM THE LABORATORIES OF 20 AFFILIATED PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS MADE USE OF THESE INSTRUMENTS. DATA COLLECTED WITH THESE INSTRUMENTS PRODUCED SEVERAL PUBLICATIONS IN EMINENT SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. THE CENTER OPERATES THE CENTER ON MOLECULAR DYNAMICS BY COMD/NMR, A BIOMEDICAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH RESOURCE SUPPORTED BY U.S. NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH GRANT P41 GM118302 AND LOCATED AT NYSBC. THE MISSION OF COMD-NMR IS TO MAKE AVAILABLE TO THE BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH COMMUNITY ADVANCED NMR SPECTROSCOPIC AND COMPUTATIONAL METHODS FOR CHARACTERIZING PROTEIN AND NUCLEIC ACID CONFORMATIONAL DYNAMICS IN BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES.

NYSBC HAS MAINTAINED X-RAY CRYSTALLOGRAPHY RESOURCES AT BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY (BNL) SINCE 2003. NYSBC HAS DEVELOPED AND OPERATES BEAMLINE 19ID-NYX AT THE NATIONAL SYNCHROTRON LIGHT SOURCE II (NSLS-II). NYX PROVIDES THE NYSBC MEMBER INSTITUTIONS AND ASSOCIATED INVESTIGATORS WITH ACCESS TO SYNCHROTRON RADIATION AND INSTRUMENTATION NECESSARY FOR COLLECTING CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC DATA ON BIOLOGICAL MACROMOLECULES. NYX HAS PERFORMED TECHNICAL AND SCIENTIFIC COMMISSIONING AND STARTED USER OPERATIONS IN THE SPRING OF 2019. THE PRIMARY ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE BEAMLINE PROGRAM FOR 2021 ARE THE TECHNICAL TESTING OF THE INSTRUMENTATION, IMPROVEMENTS TO SOFTWARE AND SUPPORTING USER EXPERIMENTS.

THE SPECIAL PROJECTS GROUP (SPG) AT NYSBC IS A TEAM OF EXPERT SCIENTISTS THAT PERFORMS FEE-FOR-SERVICE PROTEIN STRUCTURE DETERMINATION AND PROTEIN PRODUCTION SERVICES FOR EXTERNAL CLIENTS. IN ADDITION, THEY ALSO RECEIVE FUNDING THROUGH COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH PROJECTS WITH ACADEMIC AND GOVERNMENT LABORATORIES. SPG COMPLETED THE SECOND YEAR OF A FIVE YEAR NIAID CONTRACT USING STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY TO INVESTIGATE THE ETIOLOGIC AGENT FOR LYME DISEASE, BORRELIA BURGDORFERI, TO DESIGN A VACCINE OR DISCOVER ANTIBODY THERAPEUTICS AGAINST LYME DISEASE. IN ADDITION, SPG PARTICIPATED IN TWO CRYSTALLOGRAPHY RESEARCH PROJECTS WITH COLLABORATORS AT RUTGERS UNIVERSITY INVESTIGATING RICIN AND SHIGA TOXINS TO RATIONALLY DESIGN BETTER INHIBITORS AGAINST THESE TWO TOXINS.NYSBC AND THE CENTER ON MEMBRANE PROTEIN PRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS (COMPPAA) WERE RECIPIENTS OF A P41 BIOMEDICAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH RESOURCE AWARD IN 2016. COMPPAA WAS ESTABLISHED TO DEVELOP TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE PRODUCTION AND STUDY OF MEMBRANE PROTEINS OF RELEVANCE TO BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE. WAYNE HENDRICKSON, NYSBC SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR AND UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER, IS THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR OF THE FIVE-YEAR GRANT. IN 2021, COMPPAA SCIENTISTS AND THEIR COLLABORATORS PUBLISHED SIX PAPERS.