Structural Biology in the RFI

RFI是英国政府资助的一项倡议，将学术界和工业界聚集在一起，解决生命科学（工业生物技术、制药、农业化学）中最紧迫的问题。它在哈维尔有一个中心，目前有10个大学合作伙伴（Spokes）。它的目标是提供创新的新物理科学，将改变生命科学。RFI有五个相互关联的科学主题；结构生物学，下一代化学，声光成像，质谱和下一代电子显微镜。结构生物学的四个广泛的领域被确定，其中突破的基本方法将是变革性的。这些是扩展到更大的瞬时组装，结构引导药物发现的转变，进入第四（时间）维度和处理非结构化蛋白质。为了在这些领域产生影响，RFI将研究操纵细胞和大分子、样品制备的新方法；新颖的样品递送，特别是电子显微镜/断层扫描；用于成像的新硬件；关联来自不同来源的成像数据；在开发基于片段的药物发现的新管道；通过结合成像模式来进入时域。为了实现这些目标，RFI需要在10所大学、英国的中心设施和最重要的英国工业之间建立独特的伙伴关系。

The RFI is a UK government funded initiative that will bring together Academia and Industry to solve the most pressing problems in the life sciences (Industrial Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical, Agrichemical). It has a Hub at Harwell and currently ten University partners (Spokes). Its goal is to deliver innovative new physical science that will transform the life sciences. The RFI has five interlinked scientific themes; structural biology, next generation chemistry, imaging with sound and light, mass spectrometry and next generation electron microscopy. Four broad areas of structural biology are identified where breakthroughs in the underlying methodology would be transformative. These are the extension to larger transient assemblies, the transformation of structure-guided drug discovery, reaching into the fourth (time) dimension and tackling unstructured proteins.In order to deliver impact in these areas, the RFI will undertake research in new approaches to manipulating cells and macromolecules, sample preparation; novel sample delivery particularly to electron microscopes / tomographs; new hardware for imaging; correlating imaging data from different sources; in developing a new pipelines for fragment-based drug discovery; and in combining imaging modalities to reach into the time domain. To realise these goals RFI requires a unique partnership between 10 Universities, the UK's central Facilities and most importantly UK Industry.