Equipment for Structural Biology

该合同提供资金，用于购买高场核磁共振光谱仪和计算机设备，以及X射线发生器、面积探测器和相关的较小项目。这些设备将由加州大学伯克利分校的一群杰出的结构生物学家共享。该小组将进行的研究包括酶、其他蛋白质、自剪接和其他RNA的结构和功能的实验研究。还将开展更多旨在预测蛋白质结构的理论工作。发展和应用二维核磁共振谱和X射线结晶学研究RNA、蛋白质等生物大分子的结构和功能是目前生物学研究中最活跃的领域之一。尽管核磁共振仪器已经问世多年，但只有在最近几年才开发出具有此类研究所需分辨率和灵敏度的高场仪器。同样，X射线面探测器和高速计算机的发展使X射线晶体数据的获取和解释成为一种相对常规的程序。因此，用这些资金购买的那种类型的设备现在对我们理解大分子结构的进步起着至关重要的作用。

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.