Equipment for Structural Biology

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This award provides funds for the purchase of a high-field NMR spectrometer and computer equipment, and of an X-ray generator, area detector and associated smaller items. The equipment will be shared by an group of outstanding structural biologists at the University of California at Berkeley. Studies to be performed by the group include experimental studies of the structure and function of enzymes, of other proteins and of self-splicing and other RNAs. More theoretical work aimed at prediction of protein structure will also be undertaken. The development and application of 2-dimensional NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography to the study of the structure and function of biological macromolecules like RNA and protein is currently one of the most exiting areas of biological research. Although NMR instruments have been available for many years, it is only within the last few years that high field instruments with the requisite resolution and sensitivity for such studies have been developed. Similarly, the development of X-ray area detectors and of high speed computers has made the acquisition and interpretation of X-ray crystallographic data a relatively routine procedure. Thus, equipment of the type to be purchased with these funds now plays a vital role in the progress of our understanding of macromolecular structure.