Research Coordination Network: Protein Folding and Dynamics

研究协调网络：蛋白质折叠和动力学

• 批准号: 1516959
• 负责人: C Robert Matthews
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: University of Massachusetts Medical School
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-09-01 至 2021-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1516959&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Research; Coordination; Network; Protein; Folding

Title: Research Coordination Network: Protein Folding and DynamicsThe objective of this Research Coordination Network: Protein Folding Consortium (RCN:PFC) is to provide a novel platform for establishing and nurturing collaborations and training between experimentalists, theorists and computational biologists who are focused on obtaining a molecular-level understanding of the folding and other dynamical processes of proteins. Proteins are ubiquitous in nature, executing biological functions as diverse as populating the immune system with defense agents against viral infections, digesting food, serving as materials to create skin, muscle and hair, converting signals from the environment into cellular responses and replicating DNA. The RCN:PFC will probe the molecular mechanisms by which proteins adopt their unique shapes and the dynamic processes by which those shapes enable their plethora of functions that maintain life. These phenomena are sufficiently complex that a consortium of experts in both experimental and computational methods is required to understand their properties. The consortium also aims to provide a novel and interactive training and mentoring platform for younger scientists in the field. To achieve these objectives, the PFC will support two annual meetings, one with the principal investigators and another with the investigators and their students, and a website. In many ways, the consortium acts as a virtual institute focused on a studying one of the most important and fascinating problems in biology. It is anticipated that accelerated progress towards a deeper understanding of the fundamental principles that govern protein folding reactions and protein dynamics will have a major impact on biochemistry, medicine and the biotechnology industry.The goal of this Protein Folding Consortium (PFC) is to transform the way that scientists think about the protein folding problem and protein dynamics by creating a consortium of experimentalists, theorists and computational biologists whose collective efforts exceed the progress attainable by individual labs. Advances in high performance computing combined with novel sampling methods and the application of sophisticated experiments now make it possible for simulations and experiments to study protein folding and dynamics on similar time scales. Simulations generate testable predictions for experiments. Results from experiments can be used to refine simulation methodologies and force fields. This iterative synergistic approach between simulation and experiment, when deployed across proteins of different folds, sizes, complexity and evolutionary profiles, will allow for a coherent and convergent description of the folding process. The expanding ambitions of the PFC encompass folding in vivo, the evolution of biophysical properties, the coupled folding and binding of intrinsically disordered proteins, macromolecular machines and functional dynamics. These new ventures are related, in one way or another, to the folding free energy surface of a protein and its modulation by sequence, history and the environment. This project is jointly funded by the Molecular Biophysics Cluster in the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences in the Directorate for Biological Sciences; the Physics of Living Systems Program in the Division of Physics, and the Chemistry of Life Processes Program in the Division of Chemistry in the Directorate of Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

标题：研究协调网络：蛋白质折叠和动态这个研究协调网络的目标：蛋白质折叠联盟（RCN：PFC）是为建立和培育实验家，理论家和计算生物学家之间的合作和培训提供了一个新颖的平台，这些平台专注于对折叠和其他动力学的折叠和其他蛋白质的了解。 蛋白质本质上是普遍存在的，执行与防御病毒感染，消化食物的防御剂一样多样化的生物学功能，作为产生皮肤，肌肉和头发的材料，将信号从环境转化为细胞反应和复制DNA。 RCN：PFC将探测蛋白质采用其独特形状和动态过程的分子机制，这些过程使这些形状能够使其能够维持寿命的大量功能。 这些现象非常复杂，需要实验和计算方法的专家联盟来了解其特性。该财团还旨在为该领域的年轻科学家提供新颖的互动培训和指导平台。为了实现这些目标，PFC将支持两次年度会议，一次与主要调查员，另一个与调查人员及其学生以及一个网站。在许多方面，该财团充当了一个虚拟研究所，重点是研究生物学中最重要，最迷人的问题之一。 It is anticipated that accelerated progress towards a deeper understanding of the fundamental principles that govern protein folding reactions and protein dynamics will have a major impact on biochemistry, medicine and the biotechnology industry.The goal of this Protein Folding Consortium (PFC) is to transform the way that scientists think about the protein folding problem and protein dynamics by creating a consortium of experimentalists, theorists and computational biologists whose collective efforts超过单个实验室可实现的进度。 高性能计算的进步与新型采样方法结合在一起，并且复杂实验的应用使模拟和实验可以在相似的时间尺度上研究蛋白质折叠和动力学。 模拟为实验产生可测试的预测。实验的结果可用于完善模拟方法和力场。当在不同折叠，大小，复杂性和进化曲线的蛋白质中部署在仿真和实验之间的这种迭代协同方法，将允许对折叠过程进行连贯和收敛的描述。 PFC的扩大野心包含体内折叠，生物物理性能的演变，固有无序蛋白的耦合折叠和结合，大分子机器和功能动力学。 这些新企业以一种或另一种方式与蛋白质的折叠自由能表面及其按顺序，历史和环境进行调节有关。 该项目是由分子生物物理学簇共同资助的，该项目在生物科学局的分子和细胞生物科学的分裂中。生命系统的物理计划在物理学部和数学科学局化学司的化学过程计划中的化学程序计划。