COBRE: UID: STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY CORE FACILITY

爱达荷大学的进化过程研究中心（CRePE）将汇集进化生物学、结构生物学、分子生物学、生态学、计算生物学、遗传编程和统计学方面的专家，研究各种诱变过程在适应进化的速度和轨迹上的相对重要性。检测和理解进化过程中出现的模式的功能意义，并开发计算方法，以提高我们理解蛋白质、结构基因和整个基因组中功能域的进化史的能力。从这些研究中获得的基础知识将对生物医学科学具有广泛的意义，并为群体遗传变异的机制和意义以及适应性进化如何塑造所有生物体的表型特征提供见解。该中心的具体目标是：(1)在爱达荷大学建立一个卓越生物医学研究中心，促进多学科科学家团队的理论和实证研究，以增加对进化过程的理解。(2)扩大和增强现有生物信息学和分子生物学核心设施的能力，以支持参与爱达荷大学的教师和其他研究人员和学生的研究和教育活动。(3)在爱达荷大学建立结构生物学核心设施，参与爱达荷大学的教师和其他研究人员和学生研究蛋白质结构。(4)建立中心的管理结构，促进跨学科合作，指导教师，并监督研究项目，以确定可以形成新的竞争性研究计划基础的领域和发现。参与的研究人员将通过发展对生物和计算科学研究机会的更全面的理解，以及通过与UI和其他地方的其他领域的研究人员建立富有成效的合作，提高他们在校外资助方面的竞争力。拨款还将用于加强生物信息学和分子生物学核心设施的能力，并建立第三个结构生物学核心设施。这些资源将为CREPE研究人员提供先进的分析仪器、计算硬件和软件，以及专业知识和技术支持。此外，UI研究基础设施的这些改进将用于UI本科生和研究生的教学，从而提供广泛的利益。

The Center for Research on Processes in Evolution (CRePE) at the University of Idaho (UI) will bring together scientists that have expertise in evolutionary biology, structural biology, molecular biology, ecology,, computational biology, genetic programming, and statistics to investigate the relative importance of various mutagenic processes on the tempo and trajectory of adaptive evolution, to detect and understand the functional significance of patterns that emerge during the course of evolution, and develop computational approaches that improve our ability to understand the evolutionary history of functional domains in proteins, structural genes, and entire genomes. The fundamental knowledge gained from these studies will be of broad significance to biomedical science and provide insights to the mechanisms and significance of genetic variation in populations and how adaptive evolution shapes the phenotypic characteristics of all living organisms. The specific aims of the Center are: (1) Establish a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence at the University of Idaho that facilitates theoretical and empirical research by a multi-disciplinary team of scientists in order to increase understanding of evolutionary processes. (2) Expand and enhance the ability of existing Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology Core Facilities to support the research and education activities of participating faculty and other researchers and students at the University of Idaho. (3) Establish a Core Facility in Structural Biology at the University of Idaho participating faculty and other researchers and students at the University of Idaho to study protein structure. (4) Establish an administrative structure for the Center that foster interdisciplinary collaboration, mentors faculty, and monitors research projects to identify areas and findings that could form the basis of a new competitive research proposal. The participating researchers will increase their competitiveness for extramural funding by developing a more holistic understanding of research opportunities in biological and computational sciences, as well as by establishing productive collaborations with investigators from other fields both at UI and elsewhere. Funding will also be used to enhance the capabilities of Core Facilities in Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology and to establish a third in Structural Biology. These resources will provide CREPE investigators access to advanced analytical instrumentation, computational hardware and software, as well as the expertise and technical support. In addition, these improvements to the UI research infrastructure will be used for the instruction of undergraduate and graduate students at UI and thereby provide broad benefit.