Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC)
Start and end dates: July 1, 2004 - June 30, 2007 (Phase I); July 1, 2007 - June 30, 2011 (Phase II)
Website: www.sgc.utoronto.ca
Opportunity: Ontario Target Nomination
Summary
The Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) is a not-for-profit consortium that aims to determine the three-dimensional structures of proteins of medical relevance – for example, proteins from Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes malaria – and place them in the public domain without restriction. The availability of these protein structures will greatly facilitate development of new drugs.
Dr. Aled Edwards at the University of Toronto leads the SGC, with additional activities taking place at Oxford University and the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. The SGC began in 2003, and the project’s first phase delivered over and above its initial goals. An international review in May 2006 recognized the SGC as a world-leading and highly productive body that had delivered on its mandate and had made Canada a leader in this area. A review committee of international experts unanimously and enthusiastically recommended support for four more years.
Phase II has recently started, with two new pharmaceutical companies, Merck and Novartis, on board.
Notable Publications
Avvakumov, GV., Walker, JR., Xue, S., Li, Y., Duan, S., Bronner, C., Arrowsmith, CH., Dhe-Paganon, S. 2008. Structural basis for recognition of hemi-methylated DNA by the SRA domain of human UHRF1. Nature 455(7214): 822-5
Lunin, VV., Dobrovetsky, E., Khutoreskaya, G., Zhang, R., Joachimiak, A., Bochkarev, A., Maguire, ME., Edwards, AM., and Koth, CM. 2006. Crystal Structure of the CorA Mg2+ Transporter. Nature 440(7085): 833-7
Vedadi, M., Niesen, FH., Allali-Hassani , A., Fedorov, OY., Finerty Jr., PJ., Wasney, GA., Yeung, R., Arrowsmith, C., Ball, LJ., Berglund, H., Hui, R., Marsden, BD., Nordlund, P., Sundstrom, M., Weigelt, J., Edwards, AM. 2006. Chemical screening methods to identify ligands that promote protein stability, protein crystallization, and structure determination. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103(43): 15835-40
McDonough, MA., Kavanagh, K., Searls, T., Butler, D., Oppermann, U. and Schofield, CJ. 2005. Structure of human phytanoyl-CoA 2-hydroxylase identifies molecular mechanisms of Refsum disease. J Biol Chem 280(49): 41101-10
