NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The University of Oklahoma and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University will use a $3 million donation from the Price Family Foundation to create an anaerobic structural biology program.
The partners will form the OU-Einstein Research Consortium, which will be focused on establishing an Institute of Structural Biology at the Stephenson Life Sciences Research Center on the OU campus, OU said this week.
OU said it has already received a $9.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to fund a center for structural biology, and the new institute will build upon an established community of structural biology researchers. The institute will be led by OU Professor Ann West, who OU said was instrumental in obtaining the NIH funding.
OU and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine each bring "specialized but complementary areas of expertise to the collaboration," as OU specializes in small-to-large molecule X-ray analysis, and the Einstein College of Medicine has a large-scale structural genomics center, OU said.
"Collectively, the two research teams will target some of the world's most deadly diseases and search for new and/or improved cures for these diseases," the university said.
OU believes that the institute will help make it a leader in anaerobic structural biology and will enable the university to recruit top talent. The university also noted it is has launched a new structural biology graduate program.