KECK HELPS UMBI REACH FOR MOLECULAR 'INNER LIMITS'

ROCKVILLE, Md.--The W. M. Keck Foundation has awarded a $1 million grant to equip a core laboratory at University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI) that is unraveling such molecular processes as the onset of cancer, eye and autoimmune diseases, and cell-to-cell signaling systems of human, marine and agricultural organisms.

The laboratory will enhance existing fundamental studies at UMBI's Center for Advanced Research in Biotechnology (CARB) in Rockville, Md. The Keck Foundation is one of the nation's largest philanthropic organizations for areas of medical research, science, and engineering.

"As a centerpiece of UMBI's molecular studies, CARB will use the new funding to reach for new, inner limits of discovery-never-before-seen views of basic structural biology," says Jennie Hunter-Cevera, UMBI president. She says the W. M. Keck Laboratory for Integrated Structural Biology will serve molecular researchers at all five UMBI research centers. UMBI also includes the Medical Biotechnology Center, Institute of Human Virology and the Center of Marine Biotechnology in Baltimore, Md.; and the Center for Agricultural Biotechnology in College Park, Md.

The Keck funding at CARB will further advance studies aimed at understanding molecular events of auto-immune diseases and tumor cell recognition by the immunity system. Scientists there have pioneered new knowledge of how natural killer cells and T cells help detect and fight disease-causing cells and other undesirable cells in the blood stream. (see www.umbi.umd.edu; press release 12-08-99).

Other researchers at CARB will benefit from Keck funding by finding "homes" for orphan genes. Dozens of genomic sequencing projects are underway--from the human genome project to sequencing all the genes in bacteria species. However, the results often offer no information about the vital functions of a large number of genes. Careful research has shown that such "orphan genes" clearly have essential biochemical or biological functions associated with important proteins. Keck funds will aid CARB scientists studying the current "so-what?" stage of gene and protein sequencing. The project has many applications in medicine and agriculture.

Still other CARB scientists will apply new Keck funding to their studies of molecular signals in vision and retinal diseases. Their goal is to determine the structures and mechanisms of key proteins that may serve as important new drug targets to treat retinal degenerative diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa. (see www.umbi.umd.edu; press release, 06-17-00.)

The Keck laboratory will be used primarily to upgrade sophisticated equipment such as the X-ray diffraction and nuclear magnetic resonance facilities at CARB. X-ray diffraction is the use of a powerful beam of X-rays to compute the positions of the atoms and the three-dimensional structure of a protein or another molecule under study. Nuclear magnetic resonance, similar to MIR or magnetic image resonance used in consumer medicine, is the use of a powerful magnetic field at CARB to confirm distances between atoms and the dynamic structures of biological macromolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids.

The specialized research at CARB on the structural biology of macromolecules is also aimed toward protein engineering and drug design strategies for the future. For more on CARB, click on: http://www.carb.nist.gov/.
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