Structural Biology in the RFI

The RFI is a UK government funded initiative that will bring together Academia and Industry to solve the most pressing problems in the life sciences (Industrial Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical, Agrichemical). It has a Hub at Harwell and currently ten University partners (Spokes). Its goal is to deliver innovative new physical science that will transform the life sciences. The RFI has five interlinked scientific themes; structural biology, next generation chemistry, imaging with sound and light, mass spectrometry and next generation electron microscopy. Four broad areas of structural biology are identified where breakthroughs in the underlying methodology would be transformative. These are the extension to larger transient assemblies, the transformation of structure-guided drug discovery, reaching into the fourth (time) dimension and tackling unstructured proteins. In order to deliver impact in these areas, the RFI will undertake research in new approaches to manipulating cells and macromolecules, sample preparation; novel sample delivery particularly to electron microscopes / tomographs; new hardware for imaging; correlating imaging data from different sources; in developing a new pipelines for fragment-based drug discovery; and in combining imaging modalities to reach into the time domain. To realise these goals RFI requires a unique partnership between 10 Universities, the UK's central Facilities and most importantly UK Industry.