NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Case Western Reserve University has received a National Institutes of Health grant of $4 million to fund its center for protein and nucleic acids research for five years, CWRU said yesterday.
The university will use the grant, from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, to support the Case Center for Synchrotron Biosciences, which is focused on housing resources for researchers studying the structure and functions of proteins and nucleic acids.
The CWRU Synchrotron center will use the funds to continue to provide three technology cores through 2014.
These technology cores include:
• A footprinting core, which will provide mass spectrometry and proteomics facilities to study the structure and functions of proteins, including in vivo studies;
• An X-ray spectroscopy core, which will include a detector upgrade to help improve scientists' understanding of the role of metal atoms in proteins;
• A macromolecular crystallography core that includes an X29 undulator beamline and associated training and services.
"These studies are critical for understanding the normal biology of all organisms and the molecular effects of disease including the design of drugs to control cellular processes and the understanding of the molecular interactions that mediate the spread of viruses and bacteria," Mark Chance, director of CWRU’s Center for Proteomics and Bioinformatics, said in a statement.
The center supports more than 175 projects supported by 212 grants, including 200 from NIH, CWRU said.