This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. Joshua Sakon, the director of the X-ray Core facility, has established a very comprehensive program in structural biology in the COBRE Center. He solved the X-ray crystal structure of the collagen binding domain which served as the basis for development of the parathyroid hormone-collagen binding domain (PTH-CBD) fusion protein for treatment of osteoporosis. The X-ray core facility includes a Rigagku Cu anode generator with a Saturn 99 CCD detector, a Rigaku Cr anode generator with R-AXIS IV detector, a Robotic Protein crystallization instrument, and computer cluster graphics systems. Of the total cost of $1,298,000, COBRE provided $390,000 while the remainder was funded with grants from DOD-Army, DOE, NREL, NIH-BRIN, and ABI. The University has committed institutional funds for permanent staff electronics specialists Jerry Homesley and K.Z. Shein to maintain these instruments. While many of the protein crystal structures will be completely solved in house using the new X-ray diffraction instrumentation, the larger, more difficult protein structures will require collection of diffraction data at national synchrotron facilities. Joshua Sakon is making extensive use of these national synchrotron beam lines, and is a registered user of the Advanced Photon Source at the Argonne National Laboratory.
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