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| Oak Ridge National Laboratory Center for Structural Molecular Biology | |
|---|---|
| Name | Center for Structural Molecular Biology |
| Parent | Oak Ridge National Laboratory |
| Location | Oak Ridge, Tennessee |
| Established | 1990s |
| Director | (see Notable Scientists and Leadership) |
| Focus | Structural biology, macromolecular crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy |
Oak Ridge National Laboratory Center for Structural Molecular Biology The Center for Structural Molecular Biology is a research center within Oak Ridge National Laboratory that concentrates on macromolecular structure determination, biophysical characterization, and method development. The center integrates techniques drawn from synchrotron science, cryo-electron microscopy, neutron scattering, and computational biology to study proteins, nucleic acids, and complexes relevant to health, energy, and the environment. It operates in concert with national user facilities and collaborates with universities, industry, and federal agencies.
The center traces its roots to investments in large-scale science at Oak Ridge National Laboratory during the late 20th century, influenced by initiatives tied to Department of Energy priorities, the expansion of Brookhaven National Laboratory–style user programs, and trends in structural biology following milestone achievements such as the determination of the DNA double helix and the growth of protein crystallography. Development accelerated with construction of advanced beamlines at facilities like the Spallation Neutron Source and upgrades associated with the High Flux Isotope Reactor. The center grew amid broader movements exemplified by collaborations with Argonne National Laboratory, funding mechanisms from the National Institutes of Health, and programmatic alignments with National Science Foundation initiatives. Throughout its history the center engaged with landmark projects paralleling achievements at Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and groups influenced by Nobel laureates such as John Kendrew and Max Perutz.
The center's mission emphasizes high-resolution structure determination and methods development to elucidate biomolecular mechanisms with implications for National Aeronautics and Space Administration bioscience, Food and Drug Administration-relevant therapeutics, and Environmental Protection Agency-relevant biodegradation pathways. Research areas encompass macromolecular crystallography akin to work at European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, cryo-electron microscopy in the tradition of Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, neutron macromolecular crystallography reflecting expertise at Institut Laue–Langevin, and integrative structural biology methods paralleling efforts at Scripps Research Institute. Programs align with translational science themes pursued by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention partners and technology transfer goals similar to those at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories.
Facilities include dedicated crystallography beamlines comparable to those at Advanced Photon Source and cryo-EM suites reflecting capabilities found at Howard Hughes Medical Institute-supported centers. The center utilizes neutron resources analogous to Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Spallation Neutron Source instrumentation and sample environments resembling those developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Computational resources parallel systems at National Center for Supercomputing Applications and incorporate software from projects like Phenix, CCP4, and cryo-EM packages inspired by RELION and cryoSPARC. Support infrastructure connects to user programs modeled after User Facility systems at Argonne National Laboratory and staffing approaches similar to European Molecular Biology Laboratory core facilities.
Major contributions include high-resolution structures of enzymes and complexes relevant to human immunodeficiency virus research, antibiotic target characterization in the spirit of work from Harvard Medical School, and mechanistic studies of photosynthetic proteins akin to research at California Institute of Technology. The center contributed methods for cryo-EM single-particle analysis paralleling advances by groups at MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and participated in structural genomics campaigns related to initiatives by Protein Data Bank depositors including teams from University of Cambridge and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Applied projects have addressed bioenergy enzymes studied at Joint BioEnergy Institute and biodegradation pathways investigated with partners like Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
The center collaborates with major research entities such as Tennessee Valley Authority stakeholders in regional projects, academic partners including University of Tennessee and Vanderbilt University, and federal laboratories like Argonne National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. International partnerships mirror ties to institutions like European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Institut Pasteur, and Max Planck Society units. Funding and project partnerships have involved agencies and programs including the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and venture collaborations with biotechnology firms patterned after relationships seen with Genentech and Pfizer.
Training programs include postdoctoral fellowships modeled on EMBL visiting scientist schemes, graduate student internships affiliated with University of Tennessee, and hands-on user training similar to programs at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Workshops and courses draw on pedagogical models from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Gordon Research Conferences, offering training in crystallography methods used at European Molecular Biology Laboratory and cryo-EM workshops reflecting curricula from HHMI initiatives. Outreach includes collaborations with regional schools and participation in workforce development programs linked to Tennessee Tech University and state STEM consortia.
Leadership and affiliated scientists have included directors, principal investigators, and staff scientists with backgrounds from institutions such as Brookhaven National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, Scripps Research Institute, Harvard Medical School, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Yale University, Princeton University, Columbia University, University of Chicago, Duke University, University of Michigan, Pennsylvania State University, University of California, San Diego, Northwestern University, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, University of Tokyo, Peking University, ETH Zurich, University of Toronto, McGill University, University of Melbourne, Australian National University, Seoul National University, KAIST, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Weizmann Institute of Science, Tel Aviv University, École Normale Supérieure, Université Paris-Saclay, CERN, European Space Agency, Wellcome Trust, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute-affiliated researchers. These scientists have published and contributed to work intersecting communities represented by journals and societies linked to American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Biophysical Society, and American Crystallographic Association.
Category:Oak Ridge National Laboratory Category:Structural biology centers