Faculty Lead(s)
Project Summary
In 2001, I began working in the field of structural genomics, being Co-PI on the NIGMS-funded Structural Genomics of Pathogenic Protozoa (SGPP) project headed by Wim Hol and the University of Washington. Because of my involvement in the TriTryp genome sequencing projects, my group performed all Target Selection for SGPP. I am currently PI and Director of the Seattle Structural Genomics Center for Infectious Disease (SSGCID), which has been funded under a contract from NIAID since 2007. The mission of SSGCID is to use X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy to solve the structure of proteins targets in emerging and re-emerging infectious disease organisms, primarily to facilitate development of new therapeutics using structure-based drug design, and toward this goal we have solved ~800 protein structures. SSGCID is extremely collaborative; providing clones, purified protein and structures to over 200 investigators around the world. Several of these collaborations have resulted in additional funding from sources such as NIH, BMGF and NATO. One particular success is the Structure Guided Drug Design Consortium (SDDC), which works closely with MMV and the TB Alliance to generate hit-to-lead compounds for malaria and TB.
Project Keywords: Bioinformatics, Drug Development, Structural Biology