Partners

Partner 6: York Structural Biology Laboratory, University of York

Partner: Professor Keith Wilson
Deputy: Dr. Anthony Wilkinson

The core activities of the YSBL are protein purification and crystallization, protein crystallography and molecular modelling. Partner 6 is one of the leading players in the development of technologies to accelerate the process of X-ray structure determination, with an especially strong group involved in software applications, closely connected with CCP4. It is part of the UK funded PIMS project for a Laboratory Information Management System for protein production and crystallization. Within the York laboratory and the adjacent Technology Facility, there are excellent facilities for both bacterial and eukaryotic protein expression and purification. The York partnership are investigating new approaches for expressing, purifying and crystallizing proteins and protein-nucleic acid complexes using a Mosquito robot for crystallization and a BIOTOM crystal storage and imaging system. These have transformed the use of nano-drop crystallization in the laboratory, and led to vastly improved crystal screening. In addition, medium throughput approaches to over-expression of proteins in E. coli strains use multi-pipette systems combined with ligation independent cloning. The University has recently provided ~£700K for equipping a HTP expression laboratory and this will empower the extension of activities to baculoviral and other expression systems.
Professor Wilson has 30 years experience in macromolecular crystallography and Professor Wilkinson approximately 20 years in structural biology. Dr Brzozowksi is a recognized leader in protein crystallogenesis, Prof. Hubbard is highly experienced in molecular modelling and bioinformatics. There is an increasing build-up of molecular biology activities on eukaryotic systems including human proteins in the adjacent Department of Biology. The York partnership has a long history of fostering strong collaborations with groups throughout the world, and as an organiser of workshops and hosting of visitors.