The National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health has awarded the UW a four-year grant totaling $18.8 million for a Structural Genomics of Pathogenic Protozoa (SGPP) Consortium. The principal investigator is protein crystallographer Wim G.J. Hol, Professor of Biochemistry and Biological Structure.
The consortium will develop methods and technologies for determining protein structures in protozoan species that cause such tropical diseases as malaria, sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis and Chagas' disease. The resultant protein structures will also aid in cracking the protein-folding problem.
The grant is part of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences' Protein Structure Initiative. This initiative has emphasized structural genomics, the determination of large numbers of protein structures by high-throughput experimental techniques. Structural genomics researchers hope to increase knowledge about protein function. Their work may also lead to the design of new therapeutics.
Dr. Hol can be reached at 206-685-7044, wghol@u.washington.edu
Additional information about other research groups studying microbial pathogens at the University of Washington can be found on the home page of The Keck Center for Microbial Pathogens. Center investigators share the common goal of applying advanced technology to understand and ultimately cure diseases caused by bacterial and protozoan pathogens. The Center represents over 18 research groups from 11 different departments, primarily in the School of Medicine but also in the College of Arts and Sciences, with expertise ranging from computational biology, proteomics, and structural biology to chemical biology, the biology of infection, and clinical trials.
Box 357350