Message from RCSB PDB

The PDB was announced on October 20, 1971 in Crystallography: Protein Data Bank Nature New Biology 233: 223 (1971) doi: 10.1038/newbio233223b0.

Fifty years later, the PDB archive contains ~180,000 structures of proteins, nucleic acids, and complex assemblies that helps students and researchers understand all aspects of biomedicine and agriculture, from protein synthesis to health and disease. It is managed by the Worldwide PDB (wwPDB) organization that ensures that the PDB is freely and publicly available to the global community.

Throughout 2021, the wwPDB will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the PDB archive Highlights during the first half of 2021 have included:

• Inaugural event: A special symposium celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Protein Data Bank (May 4-5, 2021, hosted by ASBMB).
• ~275 posters were presented during the meeting, with awards made to Nicholas Mamisashvili (Shelter Island High School), Ijeoma Okoye (Vassar College), Daniel Sultanov (New York University), and Seda Kocaman (National Institute of Environmental Health Science)
• Biocurators Brian Hudson and Gregg Crichlow summarized the presentations from the esteemed panel of speakers from around the world who have made tremendous advances in structural biology and bioinformatics.
  
  
• PDB-101 and RCSB.org materials
• A new video looks at the history and the milestones that shaped the PDB
• A timeline tracks highlights from the PDB and the structural biology community
• The PDB50 board game explores the process of structure discovery
• Structural Biology Playing Cards celebrate PDB and the structural biologists who have determined and deposited their many biomolecular structures
• Journal Collections
• Journal of Biological Chemistry: How the Protein Data Bank Changed Biology and The PDB in JBC
• Nature Collection: PDB 50th Anniversary: celebrating the future of structural biology in Nature Methods and Nature Structure & Molecular Biology.

Upcoming events include the Function Follows Form: Celebrating PDB50 (July 30-31; virtual event part of the Annual Meeting of the American Crystallographic Association) and Understanding Enzyme Function in 3D (August 25; part of the American Chemical Society Fall meeting). Visit wwpdb.org/pdb50 and rcsb.org/pdb50 for more information.