BIOPHYS STUD OF PROTEINS, NUCLEIC ACIDS, AND VIRUSES

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The biophysical training grant at Purdue University has continued its strong emphasis on structural biology, while increasing the representation of faculty mentors from other disciplines which involve and affect structural biology. The mentoring faculty has increased from 19 to 22 in this period, with all members from six different departments either fully or partly involved in some aspect of structural biology. Two new departments are represented, and the number of mentors from biology, biochemistry, and physics as increased. The basic core research equipment, X-ray diffractometers, NMR spectrometers, and electron microscopes, has expanded and improved greatly. Six areas of overlapping research interests (structure-function of soluble proteins, membrane proteins and toxins, nucleic acid structure-function and protein-nucleic acid interactions, virus structure-function, computational approaches and metalloproteins) can be identified with a minimum faculty cluster size of at least four faculty members. These interactions had led to fifty-three publications involving at least two faculty members over the two grant periods in which thirteen biophysics trainees have also participated. During this time, past and current biophysics have contributed to 132 publications and abstracts of presentations and professional meetings. A high fraction of past trainees are currently working actively in research at universities or in industry. During the last grant period, there has been important and significant representation among the trainees from under-represented minorities and women. A discussion group on important issues of ethics and science, involving both students and faculty, has been enthusiastically received. The graduate course curriculum has improved and maintained a high degree of emphasis on quantitation. New educational aspects of the program have been an annual-student oriented biophysics symposium, already presented three times, and pre-seminar "biophysical discussions" given by different mentors on central concepts to be presented in upcoming seminars. The weekly structural biology seminars and bi-weekly structural biology journal club have continued to be regular research and training events.