The Center for Molecular Machines

The Center is a new initiative that seeks to capitalize on the strengths of the Wadsworth Center in three-dimensional imaging with a wide range of resolutions and levels of structural detail. Cryo-EM in particular has been recognized for its ability to capture different stages of processive macromolecular machines and intermolecular interactions in isolated systems, but the information it provides cannot be deciphered in the absence of atomic structures from X-ray crystallography and NMR. Methods of fitting and dynamic modeling are required for a full picture of functional processes.

The initiative for a Center for Molecular Machines rests on the belief that there exists a range of general aspects that benefit from a wider discussion. Examples for these "universal" aspects are (1) the widespread use of NTP hydrolysis as a means to introduce an irreversible change to the state of the system, (2) mechanisms of conformational signaling, and (3) the stochastic character of the choreographed macromolecular interactions.

The Center, currently a concept, will become a reality through the imagination and efforts of those actively involved. We hope it will become a rallying ground for collaborations, and an inspiration for teaming up for collaborative research programs worthy of Program Grants. Development of a Training Grant is one of the obvious opportunities to be pursued. The Center is not meant to be a club of structural biologists, but is open to participation by all investigators, postdocs and students who have an active interest in "biomolecular machines" in the widest sense of this term.

The Executive Committee
Center for Molecular Machines
Wadsworth Center
Empire State Plaza
Albany, NY, 12201-0509