Published quarterly by the Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics Protein Data Bank
RCSB PDB's 2016 calendar is focused on protein-drug complexes. For more details, see the Outreach section of this newsletter.
January: Vitamin D (yellow) binds to receptors in its target cells.
September: Ibuprofen (white and red) inhibits the cyclooxygenases used by cells to signal pain and inflammation.
On January 1, 2016, the PDB archive contained 114,697 experimentally-determined 3D structures of proteins, nucleic acids, and complex assemblies that help students and researchers understand all aspects of biomedicine and agriculture, from protein synthesis to health and disease. PDB data were downloaded from wwPDB FTP and websites 526 million times last year, with website resources at rcsb.org visited each month by an average of 316,000 unique visitors.
In 2015, two major 2015 redesign projects improved the access and usage of the structures in the PDB archive at rcsb.org:
The Structure Summary Pages available at rcsb.org for each PDB entry have been redesigned with an improved look-and-feel. The new layout provides users with improved access to both summary details and in depth scientific information through a variety of molecular 3D viewers, functional annotations, sequence diagrams and clusters, validation information, and structural neighbors. Ligand Summary Pages were similarly streamlined to better represent PDB's small molecules.
The online portal PDB-101 promotes molecular explorations through biology and medicine and is aimed at teachers, students, and the general public. This website ("101", as in an entry level course) presents introductory materials that introduce beginners to the structures of proteins and nucleic acids contained in the PDB archive. For further exploration, resources for extended learning are provided as well. The PDB-101 resource has been reorganized to provide better access to curricular materials, paper models, Molecule of the Month articles, and other materials developed by the RCSB PDB. Users can search the website for related materials using molecule name or keyword. The Browse option can be used to explore available PDB-101 resources organized by topics such as immune system and renewable energy.
Looking forward, RCSB PDB will continue to build on these and other resources to help our diverse users easily experience a structural view of biology.
