Cracking the workings of proteins
With the assistance of the EC's Biotechnology programme, the world's first ultra high field wide bore spectrometer for biological research will be inaugurated in Leiden, the Netherlands on 6 October 2000. The project, 'NMR structures of membrane proteins, complexes and lipid assemblies; a dedicated wide-bore ultra-high-field MAS NMR spectrometer for biological research' involved five partners from 13 countries, took 36 months, and was allocated a total budget of 5,131,600 euro, over half of which was contributed by the EU. The spectrometer will provide scientists with new insights into the biological interactions that control sight, taste, smell and many internal processes central to diseases ranging from depression to arthritis. This will be possible due to the detailed information about how hormones or drugs bind to their (protein) membrane receptor target in the membrane, which will make rational drug design possible.
Countries
Netherlands