First International Structural Genomics Meeting sponsored by NIGMS and the Wellcome Trust

Location:
The Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton Hall Conference Centre Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, UK

Start Date: 4/4/2000 8:00 AM

End Date: 4/6/2000 6:30 PM

NOTE: Hyperlinks within the text may have been deactivated because they no longer link to active sites and/or e-mail addresses.

Agreed Principles

Coordination of International Programs in Structural Genomics

This document reports the principles agreed at the April 4-6, 2000 meeting of representatives of the structural genomics community. Its purpose is to generate further co-operation in the structural biology and general scientific communities. The document may serve as a basis for an appropriately timed announcement to the international public on the initiation of a worldwide effort in structural genomics.

I. Introduction

Success of the genome sequencing projects and major advances in methods of protein structure determination have led the structural biology community to propose the large scale mapping of protein structure space. This structural genomics initiative aims at the discovery, analysis and dissemination of three-dimensional structures of protein, RNA and other biological macromolecules representing the entire range of structural diversity found in nature. Such a complete knowledge will facilitate fundamental understanding and applications in biology, agriculture and medicine. The three-dimensional structures will be crucial for rational drug design, for advancing catalysis in chemistry and biotechnology, and for diagnosis and treatment of disease, as well as for advancing basic principles of biology.

This opportunity is made possible by rapid recent progress in several related key technologies. These include the construction of synchrotrons and high-field NMR instruments, the MAD method of phase determination, high throughput cloning and recombinant expression, a flood of information from genome sequencing projects, and new bioinformatic methods for fold assignment, model building, and prediction of function.

The following document outlines issues related to achieving this expansion of knowledge. The goal is to encourage harmonious cooperation among a broad range of public and private sector institutions in the international effort to characterize macromolecular structures in living organisms on a pan-genomic scale.

II. Goals

A.  Specific goals

  1. Large scale determination and analysis of three-dimensional structures.
    1. To determine by experimental methods a representative set of macromolecular structures, including medically important human proteins and proteins from important pathogens and model organisms.
    2. To provide models based on sequence homology to significantly extend the coverage of structure space.
    3. To derive functional information from these structures by experimental and computational methods.

  2. Development of methods for Structural Genomics.
    1. Methods of selecting representatives of protein families based on enhancement of structure space coverage, or functional significance.
    2. High-throughput methods for production of target proteins suitable for structure determination.
    3. Methods for high throughput data collection.
    4. Methods for automated determination, validation, and analysis of 3D structures.
    5. Methods for homology-based modeling, related methods and validation of modeled structures.
    6. Informatics systems to optimize and support the process of structure determination.
    7. Bioinformatics methods for assessing biological function based on structure and other linked biological information sources.
    8. Methods for more challenging problems of production and structure determination such as those involving membrane proteins and multimolecular complexes.

B.  Programs needed

  1. Financial and organizational support for structural genomics projects.
  2. Establish an international coordinating network to promote efficient application of resources and rapid dissemination of methods and results; to coordinate policies, standards, and formats; and to promote access to unique resources such as synchrotron and high field NMR facilities.
  3. Support for the collection, archiving and dissemination of atomic information, experimental data, protocols, and materials.

III. Cooperation

A.  Public funding agencies can cooperate:

  1. By agreeing and implementing uniform policies for deposition, quality standards, and formats.
  2. By providing sustainable support for public domain programs in structural genomics.
  3. By encouraging and supporting appropriate international collaborative programs.

B.  Information and Material Release in the National Structural Genomics Programs

  1. The primary impetus for structural genomics is to obtain a base of freely available structural information and tools that will support advancements in wide areas of biology and medicine. Free exchange of data and materials is essential to the success of this effort, including the timely deposition of coordinates, data, and protocols.
  2. For the public structural genomics programs, the following guidelines for release of structural data should be supported:
    1. Timely release of coordinates and associated data. Release should follow immediately upon completion of refinement. For the time being, the decision regarding 'completion' will be made by the investigator. A longer-term goal is the automatic triggering of data release using numerical criteria.
    2. Public information on progress of projects. A primary mechanism for encouraging compliance with the guideline of timely release will be openness of progress tracking for projects. Members of the programs should maintain a public web site, showing progress status on determining the structure of each target. This information will be updated frequently.
    3. Short scientific papers. Ensuring high quality of released structures is a priority. In order to help achieve this, structures released by members of the public programs may be accompanied by a short, peer-reviewed paper. These papers could be similar in format and content to the publications of small molecule crystal structures in Acta Cryst. C. The key requirement is that reviews are rapid, and the whole process of preparing the release completed in about three weeks. Normal full-length publication is of course also possible, but should not delay the release of data.
  3. To promote communication and prevent unintended duplication of effort, it is desirable to openly share information on targeting of proteins for structure determination.
  4. At the time of coordinate deposition and data deposition, protocols for cloning, expression, crystallization and structure determination should also be deposited, enabling re-determination of all structures in the database from time to time.
  5. Material deposition of clones, cell lines, and protein samples is also encouraged, provided that satisfactory procedures can be put in place for collection, storage, and dissemination.

C.  Relationship to industrial activities

  1. The structural genomics community should explore formation of an international consortium involving industrial partners to further the goals of structural genomics.
  2. International efforts should be made to facilitate the eventual deposition of structures determined in the private sector, and to promote harmonious cooperation and exchange between the public and private sectors.

IV. Intellectual property rights

Raw fundamental data on the shape of natural protein molecules, including 3D positional coordinates, should be made freely available to researchers everywhere. However, intellectual property protection for inventions based on these can play an important role in stimulating the development of important new health care projects. Policies should be established to permit an appropriate balance between these goals.

V. Future Meetings

Annual meetings of representatives of the structural genomics community are anticipated for the continued discussion of these issues. The Second International Structural Genomics Meeting is being planned for April 4-6, 2001, in Virginia, USA.

These principles were supported by the participants in the First International Structural Genomics Meeting in Cambridge, UK, April 4-6, 2000.

Roster

Dr Sherin Abdel-Meguid
Suntory Pharmaceutical Research Laboratories
One Kendall Square
Building 1400W
Cambridge, MA 02139
USA
Phone: 00 1 617 621 0222
Fax: 00 1 617 621 0555
sherin2@aol.com

Dr Geoff Barton
EMBL-EBI
The Wellcome Trust Genome Campus
Hinxton
Cambridgeshire, UK
CB10 1SD
Phone: 01223 494414
Fax: 01223 494496
geoff@ebi.ac.uk

Professor Helen Berman
Protein Data Bank
Rutgers University
Chemistry Department
610 Taylor Road
Piscataway, NJ 08854
USA
Phone: 00 1 732 445 4667
Fax: 00 1 732 445 4320
berman@rcsb.rutgers.edu

Professor Ivano Bertini
Director, Magnetic Resonance Center
University of Florence
Via L. Sacconi 6
50019 Sesto
Fiorentino
Italy
Phone: 00 39 055 4209 270
Fax: 00 39 055 4209 271
bertini@cerm.unifi.it

Professor Sir Tom Blundell
Department of Biochemistry
University of Cambridge
Tennis Court Road
Cambridge, UK
CB2 1GA
Phone: 01223 333628
Fax: 01223 766082
tom@cryst.bioc.cam.ac.uk

Professor Stephen K Burley
The Rockefeller University
1230 York Avenue
Box 55
New York, NY 10021-6399
USA
Phone: 00 1 212 327 7240
Fax: 00 1 327 7240
burley@rockvax.rockefeller.edu

Dr Christian Cambillau
AFMB-CNRS
31 Ch. J. Aiguier
13402 Marseille
Cedex 20
France
Phone: 00 33 491 16 45 02
Fax: 00 33 491 16 45 36
cambillau@afmb.cnrs-mrs.fr

Mr. David Carr
Policy Unit
The Wellcome Trust
210 Euston Road
London, UK
NW1 2BE
Phone: 0171 611 8220
Fax: 0171 611 8742
d.carr@wellcome.ac.uk

Dr Marvin Cassman
Director, NIGMS NIH
45 Center Drive
MSC-6200
Bethesda, MD 20892-6200
USA
Phone: 00 1 301 594 2172
Fax: 00 1 301 402 0156
cassmanm@nigms.nih.gov

Dr Cyrus Chothia
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
University of Cambridge
Hills Road
Cambridge, UK
CB2 2QH
Phone: 01223 402221
Fax: 01223 213556
chc1@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk

Miss Nicky Clarkson
Conference & Meetings Administrator
Hinxton Hall Conference Centre
The Wellcome Trust Genome Campus
Hinxton
Cambridgeshire, UK
CB10 1RQ
Phone: 01223 495002
Fax: 01223 495114
nicky.clarkson@hinxton.wellcome.ac.uk

Dr Robert Cooke
Head of Molecular Recognition
Medicines Research Centre
GlaxoWellcome Research & Development
Gunnelswood Road
Stevenage
Herts, UK
SG1 2NY
Phone: 01438 763367
Fax: 01438 764865
rc8817@GlaxoWellcome.co.uk

Ms Anna Curson
Project Analyst
The Wellcome Trust
183 Euston Road
London, UK
NW1 2BE
Phone: 0171 611 8773
Fax: 0171 611 0708
a.curson@wellcome.ac.uk

Professor Christopher Dobson
New Chemistry Laboratory
University of Oxford
South Parks Road
Oxford, UK
OX1 3QT
Phone: 01865 275916
Fax: 01865 275921
chris.dobson@icl.ox.ac.uk

Professor Guy Dodson
Department of Chemistry
University of York
York, UK
YO10 5DD
Phone: 01904 432519
Fax: 01904 410519
ggd@ysbl.york.ac.uk

Dr Richard Durbin
Head of Informatics Division
The Sanger Centre
The Wellcome Trust Genome Campus
Hinxton
Cambridgeshire, UK CB10 1SA
Phone: 01223 494978
Fax: 01223 494919
rd@sanger.ac.uk

Dr Charles Edmonds
Program Director
Division of Cell Biology & Biophysics
NIGMS/NIH
45 Center Drive RM 2AN18B
Bethesda, MD 20892-6200
USA
Phone: 00 1 301 594 4428
Fax: 00 1 301 480 2004
edmondsc@nigms.nih.gov

Professor Aled Edwards
Associate Professor
Banting and Best Department Of Medical Research
C.H Best Institute Room 402
University of Toronto 112 College Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5G 1L6
Canada
Phone: 00 1 416 946 3436
Fax: 00 1 416 978 8528
aled.edwards@utoronto.ca

Professor Roger Fourme
LURE Universite Paris-Sud
Bât 209 D
Université Paris.Sud
91898
Orsay Cedex
France
Phone: 00 33 1 64 46 81 26
Fax: 00 33 1 64 46 41 02
fourme@lure.u-psud.fr

Professor Paul Freemont
Centre for Structural Biology
Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine
South Kensington
London, UK
Phone: 0171 269 3291/594 5324
Fax: 0171 269 3671
p.freemont@ic.ac.uk

Dr Michael Geisow
16 The Banks
Bingham
Nottinghamshire, UK
NG13 8BL
Phone: 01949 876 156
Fax: 01949 876156
mike@biodigm1.u-net.com

Professor Paul Gilna
Program Director
Biological Databases & Informatics
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA 22230
USA
Phone: 00 1 703 306 1469
Fax: 00 1 703 306 0356
pgilna@nsf.gov

Professor Udo Heinemann
Kristallographie
Max-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medicin
Robert-Rössle-Strasse 10
D-13125 Berlin
Germany
Phone: 00 49 30 9406 3420
Fax: 00 49 30 9406 2548
heinemann@mdc-berlin.de

Professor Wayne Hendrickson
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Columbia University
630 West 168th Street
BB-2-202
New York, NY 10032
USA
Phone: 00 1 212 305 3456
Fax: 00 1 212 305 7379
wayne@convex.hhmi.columbia.edu

Dr Nobuo Kamiya
Senior Scientist
Division of Bio-Crystallography Technology
RIKEN Harima Institute/Spring 8
Kocuto
Mikazuki
Myogo 679-5148
Japan
Phone: 00 81 791 58 2839
Fax: 00 81 791 58 2834
nkamiya@sp8sun.spring8.or.jp

Professor Robert Kaptein
Bijvoet Centre for Biomolecular Research
University of Utrecht
Padualaan 8
NL-CH-3584
Utrecht
The Netherlands
Phone: 00 31 30 253 3787
Fax: 00 31 30 253 7623
kaptein@nmr.chem.uu.nl

Professor Sung-Hou Kim
Calvin Laboratory
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720
USA
Phone: 00 1 510 486 4333
Fax: 00 1 510 486 5272
shkim@cchem.berkley.edu

Dr Richard Kramer
Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp
556 Morris Avenue
Summit, NJ 07901
USA
Phone: 00 1 908 277 4687
Fax: 00 1 908 277 5035
richard.kramer@pharma.novartis.com

Dr Victor Lamzin
EMBL C/O Desy
Notkerstr 74
22603 Hamburg
Germany
Phone: 00 49 40 89 902 121
Fax: 00 49 40 89902 149
victor@embl-hamburg.de

Professor Michael Levitt
Department of Structural Biology
Stanford Medical School
Stanford, CA 94305
USA
Phone: 00 1 650 723 6800
Fax: 00 1 650 723 8464
michael.levitt@stanford.edu

Professor Peter Lindley
European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
ESRF, BP 220
F-38043 Grenoble
Cedex
France
Phone: 00 33 4 7688 2014
Fax: 00 33 4 7688 2160
lindley@esrf.fr

Dr Michal Linial
Department of Biological Chemistry
Life Science Institute
The Hebrew University
Givat Ram
Jerusalem 91904
Israel
Phone: 00 972 2 658 5425
Fax: 00 972 2 658 6448
michall@leonardo.ls.huji.ac.il

Dr Albrecht Messerschmidt
Max-Planck-Institute for Biochemistry
AM Klopferspitz 18A
Germany
Phone: 00 49 89 8578 2669
Fax: 00 49 89 8578 3516
messersc@biochem.mpg.de

Dr Stefan Michalowski
Head, Megascience Unit
OECD
2 rue André-Pascal
75016 Paris
France
Phone: 00 33 1 45 24 92 89
Fax: 00 33 1 45 24 96 44
michalowski@oecd.org

Dr Colin Miles
BBSRC
Polaris House
North Star Avenue
Swindon
SN2 1UH
Phone: 01793 413359
Fax: 01793 413234
colin.miles@bbsrc.ac.uk

Dr Gaetano Montelione
CABM - Rutgers University
679 Hoes Lane
Piscataway, NJ 08854
USA
Phone: 00 1 732 235 5321
Fax: 00 1 732 235 4850
guy@cabm.rutgers.edu

Dr Michael Morgan
Chief Executive of The Wellcome Trust Genome Campus
The Wellcome Trust
183 Euston Road
London, UK
NW1 2BE
Phone: 020 7611 8691
Fax: 020 7611 8688
m.morgan@wellcome.ac.uk

Professor John Moult
CARB
University of Maryland
9600 Gudelsky Drive
Rockville, MD 20850
USA
Phone: 00 1 301 738 6241
Fax: 00 1 202 738 6255
jmoult@tunc.org

Dr John Norvell
Program Director
Division of Cell Biology & Biophysics
NIGMS/NIH
45 Center Drive Room 2AS13B
Bethesda, MD 20892-6200
USA
Phone: 00 1 301 594 0533
Fax: 00 1 301 480 2004
norvellj@nigms.nih.gov

Dr Mark Palmer
Medical Research Council
20 Park Crescent
London, UK
W1N 4AL
Phone: 0171 7670 5360
Fax: 0171 7637 2856
palmer@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk

Dr Ari Patrinos
Associate Director for Biological & Environmental Research
US Department of Energy
19901 Germantown Road
Germantown, MD 20874-1290
USA
Phone: 00 1 301 903 3251
Fax: 00 1 903 5051
ari.patrinos@science.doe.gov

Professor Simon Phillips
Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology
School of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
University of Leeds
Leeds, UK
LS2 9JT
Phone: 0113 233 3027
Fax: 0113 233 1407
s.e.v.phillips@leeds.ac.uk

Dr Debbie Poole
Programme Manager
The Wellcome Trust Genome Campus
Hinxton
Cambridgeshire, UK
CB10 1RQ
Phone: 01223 495006
Fax: 01223 495114
d.poole@hinxton.wellcome.ac.uk

Professor Randy Read
Wellcome Trust/MRC Building
Hills Road
Cambridge, UK
CB2 2XY
Phone: 01223 336500
Fax: 01223 336827
rjr27@cam.ac.uk

Professor David Rice
Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology
University of Sheffield
Firth Court
Western Bank
Sheffield, UK
S10 2TN
Phone: 0114 222 2750
Fax: 0114 222 2850
d.rice@sheffield.ac.uk

Dr Ajay Royyuru
Computational Biology Center
IBM T J Watson Research Center
PO Box 704
Yorktown Heights, NY 10598
USA
Phone: 00 1 914 784 7813
Fax: 00 1 914 784 7455
ajayr@us.ibm.com

Professor Chris Sander
CISO
Millennium Predictive Medicine
700 One Kendall Square
Cambridge, MA 02139
USA
Phone: 00 1 617 577 3534/7245
Fax: 00 1 617 249 0169
sander@mpi.com

Mr. David Seemungal
Policy Unit
The Wellcome Trust
210 Euston Road
London, UK
NW1 2BE
Phone: 0171 611 8290
Fax: 0171 611 8742
d.seemungal@wellcome.ac.uk

Dr Barbara Skene
Scientific Programme Manager
Wellcome Trust
183 Euston Road
London, UK
NW1 2BE
Phone: 0171 611 8677
Fax: 0171 611 0708
b.skene@wellcome.ac.uk

Dr Sharon Spencer
Catalyst Biomedica Ltd.
183 Euston Road
London, UK
NW1 2BE
Phone: 0171 611 8310
Fax: 0171 611 8857
spencer@wellcome.ac.uk

Professor Joel Sussman
Department of Structural Biology
Weizmann Institute of Science
Rehovot 76100
Israel
Phone: 00 972 8 934 2638
Fax: 00 972 8 934 4159
joel.sussman@weizmann.ac.il

Dr William Taylor
Division of Mathematical Biology
National Institute for Medical Research
The Ridgeway, Mill Hill
London, UK
NW7 1AA
Phone: 0181 959 3666
Fax: 0181 913 8545
Wtaylor@nimr.mrc.ac.uk

Dr Tom Terwilliger
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Mail Stamp M888
Los Alamos, NM 87545
USA
Phone: 00 1 505 667 0072
Fax: 00 1 505 665 3024
terwilliger@lanl.gov

Dr Jean-Claude Thierry
CNRS
IGBMC - 1 rue Laurent Fries
67400 Illkirch
France
Phone: 00 33 3 88 65 33 06
Fax: 00 33 3 88 65 32 76
jct@igbmc.u-strasbg.fr

Professor Janet Thornton
Biomolecular & Molecular Biology
University College London
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT
Phone: 0171 3807048
Fax: 0171 9618499
thornton@biochem.ucl.ac.uk

Dr Tony Wilkinson
AstraZeneca
Mereside, Room 8AF4
Alderley Park
Macclesfield
Cheshire
SK10 4TG
Phone: 01625 515167
Fax: 01625 517692
tony.wilkinson@astrazeneca.com

Dr Shigeyuki Yokoyama
Genomic Sciences Centre
RIKEN
2-1 Hirosawa
Wako
Saitama 351-0198
Japan
Phone: 00 81 48 467 9427
Fax: 00 81 48 462 4675
yokoyama@biochem.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Agenda