Outreach and Education

ISMB/ECCB

Tsukasa Nakamura

At this year's Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB)/European Conference on Computational Biology, the RCSB PDB Poster Prize award went to Tsukasa Nakamura.

Towards protein interface prediction using SE(3)-Transformer
Tsukasa Nakamura, JSPS(PD)/Tohoku University, Japan

Many thanks to judges Jose Duarte and Joan Segura (RCSB PDB) and to Steven Leard (ISMB) for his continued support.

ACA

Karthik Srinivasan

At this year'sAmerican Crystallographic Association's Annual Meeting, the RCSB PDB Poster Prize award went to Karthik Srinivasan.

Structural analysis of the Toc75 Potra domains from Pisum sativum
Karthik Srinivasan, Nicholas Noinaj (Purdue University), Srinivas Chakravarthy (Illinois Institute of Technology), Satchal Erramilli (The University of Chicago), Adrian Gonzalez (Molecular Templates Inc.)

Brenna Norton-Baker

The judges also awarded an Honorable Mention to Brenna Norton-Baker for

A simple vapor-diffusion method enables protein crystallization inside the HARE serial crystallography chip
Brenna Norton-Baker (University of California, Irvine, UCI), Pedram Mehrabi (Universität Hamburg), David von Stetten (EMBL), Hendrik Schikora (Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, MPSD), Ashley O. Kwok (UCI), Rachel W. Martin (UCI), R. J. Dwayne Miller (University of Toronto), Eike C. Schulz (Universität Hamburg)

Also at ACA, the 2021 RCSB PDB Summer Scholars presented their research.

These students were part of RISE at Rutgers, a nationally acclaimed summer research program for outstanding undergraduates from diverse backgrounds. Scholars participate in cutting-edge research in the biological, physical, and social/ behavioral sciences, math, engineering, and exciting interdisciplinary areas under the guidance of carefully matched faculty mentors.  Through this program, they partnered with the RCSB PDB and the Khare Lab at Rutgers to study protease evolution across all Coronaviridae using bioinformatics tools.

• Mickayla Bacorn, Biochemical analysis and review of the active site evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses
• MaryAgnes Balogun, Understanding the active site of the SARS-CoV-2 papain-like proteinase (PLPro)
• Cassandra Olivas, Using data mining to identify variations within the proteases of Coronaviridae
• Amy Wu Wu, Bioinformatics and 3D Structural Analysis of the Coronavirus Main Protease Active Site Diversity

Amy and Mickayla's posters were each recognized with a Pauling Poster Prize. The Pauling Poster Prize was established by the ACA and is supported by member contributions, to honor Linus Pauling. Pauling was one of the pioneers in American structural research and was a very supportive member of the ACA for many years.
Amy and Cassandra were supported by an NSF REU to the RCSB PDB.

Many thanks to the ACA Poster Prize Chairs Sara N. Andres (McMaster University) and Tiffany Kinnibrugh (Argonne National Laboratory) and the judges: Jan Abendroth (UCB BioSciences), Christopher Berndsen (James Madison University), Jennifer Bridwell-Rabb (University of Michigan), Rafael M. Couñago (SGC-UNICAMP)

Some of the Molecular Landscapes by David Goodsell explore the molecular basis of vaccines. Immunological Synapse, Influenza Vaccine, and Poliovirus Neutralization are part of the VAX series. A painting of the SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Vaccine is also available. These paintings are designed to be accurate representations of the biological processes, but also serve as a celebration of a miracle of modern medicine.

The watercolor paintings of David S. Goodsell integrate information from structural biology, microscopy and biophysics to simulate detailed views of the molecular structure of living cells. Proteins, nucleic acids, and lipid membranes are shown; small molecules, ions, and water are omitted for clarity.

Pain is one of the most trying experiences of life. On the cellular level it is communicated via special neuronal pathways. On the molecular level, however, pain is communicated like any other sensation, via a set of electrical and chemical signals facilitated by complex molecular machinery. These signals can be modulated by opioids, causing us to feel less pain, or no pain at all. Learn how opioids activate the G-proteins which in turn interact with other proteins to edit the pain signal.

Video stills and truncated video highlights are available.

This video looks at the history and the milestones that shaped the PDB into the leading resource for research and education it is today. To learn more, visit rcsb.org/pdb50