Center For Structural Biology Positions UB For Groundbreaking Research

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo has announced the establishment of the Center for Structural Biology, an interdisciplinary program that will give scientists powerful new tools with which to study the life sciences.

The field of structural biology is expected to lay the groundwork for the biomedical breakthroughs of the next century by providing scientists with detailed information about the structures and dynamics of complex biological molecules. These results would enable scientists to develop new pharmaceutical agents to either interfere with certain undesirable biochemical reactions or mimic desirable biochemical processes to achieve a useful clinical outcome.

The UB center will operate in conjunction with the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, School of Dental Medicine and School of Pharmacy.

Joseph J. Tufariello, Ph.D., dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and professor of chemistry, noted that "structural biology is going to be extremely important in helping us to understand how the human body works and in developing strategies for fighting disease. It's an area we have to be in."

Tufariello said that at a time when the university faces stringent budget cuts, the decision to go forward with the structural-biology center demonstrates UB's unwavering commitment to research excellence.

"This is a major, positive step at a time when the university is having severe difficulties," he said. "We are sending a signal that we are not allowing our budget cuts to be destructive of our educational mission. UB is not going to be second-rate, we expect to be first-rate, including in the areas of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography so critical to the development of the initiative in structural biology."

He said it is important to note that not only are other universities in the U.S. making major commitments to structural biology, but so are those in other countries.

"If we do not enter this area, we will be lagging in terms of the kind of technical expertise that is going to be absolutely necessary in order to make advances in the biological sciences," he said.

Investment in the UB Center for Structural Biology, more than half of which will be sought from outside sources, could total $10 million over the next five years.

The initial phase of the project, which covers the purchase of new 600- and 750-megahertz NMR instruments and the hiring of new faculty in the areas of NMR and X-ray crystallography, totals approximately $4 million.

Later phases of the center, to be implemented during the next several years, will include the purchase of equipment and the appointment of new faculty in the areas of computational biophysics, cellular biology and new imaging technologies.

Additional funds will be generated by the center's scientists through research grants from public and private sources.

Joshua Wand, Ph.D., has been appointed director of the center and professor of chemistry, with joint appointments in the Department of Biological Sciences and Department of Biophysics. He came to UB from the University of Illinois, where he was professor of biochemistry, biophysics and chemistry, and had a key role in the university's program in structural biology.

Wand previously held positions at the Institute for Cancer Research in Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania. He is one of a small group of biologists in the world specializing in the use of high-field, high-resolution NMR spectroscopy to study molecular structures.

According to Wand, UB's decision to make a long-term investment in structural biology virtually ensures that the university will be at the forefront of future achievements in the biomedical sciences.

"This discipline is poised for breakthroughs," he said. "It's at a point where if you put the right people and funding in place, there is going to be a huge payoff."

A unique aspect to UB's center is that in addition to providing state-of-the-art facilities, the university will be actively fostering interdepartmental collaborations.

"The only way a structural biology center can work is to create an environment that encourages collaboration, and that's exactly what UB is doing," Wand said.

This kind of environment is critical, he added, because structural biology is, in a sense, defined by the conviction that the next revolution in biomedical science will come not from a single structure-determination method, but from a combination of methods.

These will include many used now, such as high-resolution NMR and X-ray crystallography, together with new techniques, such as computational biophysics, where molecular kinetic events are modeled mathematically, and new imaging techniques based on electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction.

The result, Wand explained, will be a much more detailed knowledge of the three-dimensional structure and function of large, complicated proteins and other cellular structures and pathways that may be implicated in diseases.