Center for Structural Molecular Biology On-Site Review (July 1999)

On July 22 an international group of experts in neutron science, structural biology, mass spectrometry, and computational biology performed an on-site review of the ORNL proposal to establish a new Center for Structural Molecular Biology (CSMB). The proposal was developed under Michelle Buchanan's leadership by an interdisciplinary team of ORNL scientists including Michelle Buchanan, George Wignall (Solid State Division), Bob Hettich (Chemical and Analytical Sciences Division, Ying Xu, Ed Uberbacher, Frank Larimer (all from Life Sciences Division), and Jill Trewhella from Los Alamos National Laboratory. After preliminary positive feedback from the review committee and our program managers at the DOE Office of Biological and Environmental Sciences (OBER), we now have more official word that the review went very well and that OBER intends to fund the CSMB starting in FY 2000. The Center will be a user facility anchored on the cold neutron source at the upgraded High Flux Isotope Reactor with a small angle neutron scattering instrument dedicated to biology users. It will also include state-of-the-art biological mass spectrometry, as well as computational biology resources. This is a multi-million dollar investment by DOE over the next four years. It is an exciting opportunity to grow the biological neutron user community, and to build an important structural biology resource. (Contact: Michelle Buchanan, 574-4521 or vbu@ornl.gov; Funding Source: KP)