Program Project in Structural Cell Biology of DNA Repair Machines: Structural Cell Biology Core

Performance Site

UC / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
1 Cyclotron Road
Life Sciences Division, Building 74
Berkeley, CA 94720

Key Personnel

Name	Organization	Role on Project
Tainer, John A.	UC / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	Principal Investigator; Project 3 Leader; SCB Core Director
Beese, Lorena S.	Duke University Medical School	Project 5 Senior Investigator; SCB Core co-Director
Earnest, Thomas N.	UC / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	SCB Core Investigator
Ellenberger, Thomas	Harvard Medical School	Project 1 Senior Investigator; EMB and SCB Core co-Director
Genick, Ulrich	UC / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	Lead Research Scientist, SCB Core
Tsutakawa, Susan	UC / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	Research Scientist, SCB Core
Arvai, Andrew	UC / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory	Research Programer, SCB Core
Tsuruta, Hiro	SSRL / Stanford Univ.	Collaborator
Hanein, Dorit	Burnham Inst.	Collaborator
Volkmann, Niels	Burnham Inst.	Collaborator

Links to web sites:

Structural Cell Biology Core Abstract

The Structural Cell Biology (SCB) Core provides a critical tool for understanding the Structural Biology of DNA Repair (SBDR). The major challenge in the study of SBDR comes from the recognition that repair processes are coordinated through the dynamic assembly of large protein complexes. The SCB Core is specifically designed to overcome these difficulties and provide a unique resource in structural biology. The requested funding provides staff for SBDR utilization of the Structurally Integrated Biology for Life Sciences (SIBYLS) beamline at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories (LBNL) and the development of a centralized site for tackling crystallizations and structure determinations for the large macromolecular complexes known to be involved in DNA repair. The SIBYLS beamline provides tunable wavelengths for both single crystal X-ray diffraction and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). Multiwavelength single crystal X-ray diffraction provides the ability to determine structures from single samples, while SAXS provides a method for validation of conformational states, determination of conformational changes, and determination of solution dynamics. A key component of the SCB Core will be to provide a technological bridge between atomic resolution structures and molecular envelopes, which will bridge the gap between enzyme structures and biologically relevant, multi-component macromolecular machines. The SCB Core Aims include the development of software that addresses this problem area through the systematic and objective fitting of high resolution structures within molecular envelopes from EM single particle and SAXS experiments. The centralized Core facility will allow for the rapid dissemination of methodological developments within the Program Project in the areas of crystal generation, data collection and analysis, and structure determination. The SCB Core will provide the advanced technological tools to tackle these structures of macromolecular machines for DNA repair, and will generate insights on these multi-component systems, that cannot be understood solely through the biophysical chemistry of individual components.

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