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Birkbeck
/ UCL Institute extends knowledge of function of diseases |
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8 November
2004 Structural biology research at Birkbeck has a tremendous reputation. For more than half a century the College has been at the forefront of the field by providing some of the most seminal insights into biological molecules. And at the new Institute, Birkbeck's crystallographers are collaborating with some of the most productive UK scientists in chemical biology, biophysics, proteomics and bioinformatics. Our knowledge of the function of diseases, viruses and bacteria function increasingly depends on a deeper understanding of the chemical and physical principles that govern their behaviour. The Institute seeks to provide a scientific environment conducive to world-class research that is, by its nature, multidisciplinary. Such work can be exemplified by the Birkbeck/UCL study on the pathology caused by the salmonella bacteria. Salmonella is a food-born pathogen that causes severe cases of food poisoning in humans. The pathogen uses hair-like structures called pili, located on its surface, to latch onto the human host cell. These pili are adhesive, binding to specific receptors on the host cell surface. Structural studies of individual molecules at Birkbeck's School of Crystallography, by Dr Han Remaut, have revealed the basis of the relationship between the molecules. Osman Salih, a student of Birkbeck's Professor Helen Saibil and myself, has been able to visualise the entire structure using electron microscopy as a form of magnification. In turn, this structural information from Birkbeck is used by Dr Helen Hailes in UCL's Department of Chemistry to design small compounds that are able to disrupt the molecular interactions. Such research is extremely valuable. With increased resistance of bacteria to antibiotics, this work could lead to the design of a new generation of antibiotics, which, instead of killing all bacteria in the intestine - including the 'good' bacteria that form part of the normal intestinal flora - would only target those that are causing harm: in this instance, salmonella. It is very much the aim of the Institute to encourage this kind of multidisciplinary work and provide the appropriate intellectual stimulation and state-of-the-art facility to bring such studies to a fruitful conclusion. The Institute of Structural Molecular Biology extends the existing relationship between Birkbeck and UCL formed through the Joint Research School in Biomolecular Sciences (created in 1996) that links UCL's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology with Birkbeck's School of Crystallography. This initiative opened up a range of techniques that are used to probe biological structures, including nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), and other techniques to observe the behaviour of biological structures 'free' in solution, as opposed to in crystal form. The Institute also provides support to specialist centres such as the Centre for Computational Science at UCL, as well to three other joint Birkbeck/UCL initiatives: the Bloomsbury Centre for Bioinformatics; the Bloomsbury Centre for Structural Biology; and the Biophysics Centre. A further collaboration for the Institute comes in the form of a new alliance with the UCL Department of Chemistry and the Birkbeck School of Biological and Chemical Sciences. This will enable structural biologists to make the most of the three-dimensional structures that they've determined. Indeed, once a structure is known, it needs to be probed either biophysically or chemically to understand its dynamic behaviour and mechanism. Understanding how a biological molecule works requires many aspects of contemporary research. The Institute of Structural Molecular Biology provides such an environment. For more
information about the joint Birkbeck/UCL Institute of Structural Molecular
Biology, visit www.ismb.lon.ac.uk |
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| Last updated: 8 November 2004 | |
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