Message from RCSB PDB

Throughout 2021, RCSB PDB and the wwPDB celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the PDB.  Symposia were held (virtually) around the world, highlighting high-impact applications of protein structural data. 

Videos of presentations are available from the inaugural PDB50 meeting hosted by ASBMB in May; the Biophysical Society-hosted symposium in October; and the Protein Data Bank at 50: Accessing, Understanding, and Assessing PDB Data workshops hosted by the Royal Society of Chemistry Chemical Information and Computer Applications Group in November (day 1 and day 2).

In July 2021, Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr., who represents New Jersey's 6th district that includes Rutgers University, noted the 50th anniversary of the PDB in the Congressional Record (HTML |PDF).

Visit RCSB.org/pdb50 for the archive of all PDB50 celebration materials, including 

• Molecule of the Month: Fifty Years of Open Access to PDB Structures 
• Historical video looks at 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 contains reviews that celebrates scientific areas profoundly touched by the creation of the PDB; The PDB in JBC highlights some seminal PDB structures published in the journal; the corresponding PDB structures in this collection are also featured at RCSB.org
• Nature Collection: PDB 50th Anniversary: celebrating the future of structural biology in Nature Methods and Nature Structure & Molecular Biology.

During this 50^th anniversary year, consider supporting the PDB's spirit of openness, cooperation and education with a donation to the wwPDB Foundation.  The Foundation is chartered as a 501(c)(3) entity exclusively for scientific, literary, charitable, and educational purposes.