The PSI is a $600 million project that was started in 2000 to determine the three-dimensional shapes of 4,000 to 6,000 unique proteins that represent the variety found in organisms ranging from bacteria to humans. Researchers can use these structures to build computer models of the structures of other proteins with related amino acid sequences.
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The first phase of the PSI focused on developing new tools and automated processes to enable researchers to quickly, cheaply, and reliably determine the shapes of proteins. The next five-year next phase, which will begin in July, will focus on determining harder-to-solve protein structures, such as the structures of membrane proteins.
More information about the PSI can be found here.