The Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics Protein Data Bank, a global scientific resource based at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, has become the foundation for a new era of discovery, one that promises to reshape how scientists understand the inner workings of life itself. At the heart of this new frontier is integrative structural biology, a powerful approach that enables scientists to learn how tiny, specialized substructures inside our cells actually work.
Leading the effort is Brinda Vallat, associate research professor at the Institute for Quantitative Biomedicine and scientific software developer for the RCSB Protein Data Bank. Vallat has spent the past 10 years building the data infrastructure needed to archive and deliver integrative structures to the world. Integrative structural biology combines different types of scientific data and computer modeling to build a complete picture of large, complex macromolecules, Vallat said.
“It’s a major leap forward, allowing researchers to understand not just what these molecular machines look like, but how they move, interact and function,” she said. To read the full story.