Structural Genomics Consortium

The Structural Genomics Consortium is deciphering the structures of hundreds of proteins relevant to human health and disease and placing them in the public domain without restriction.

Structural genomics is the systematic, high-throughput production of the three-dimensional structure of proteins. Knowledge of the structure of a protein can help to unravel its biological function and may aid the design of new drugs.

To complement international efforts in structural genomics, the Structural Genomics Consortium was created in 2003 and currently comprises three nodes at the University of Oxford, University of Toronto, Canada and the Karolinska Institute, Sweden. This public-private partnership is funded by the Wellcome Trust, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis Foundation, Merck & Co Inc., four of Canada's leading research funding agencies and a consortium of Swedish funders.

Over the first four years of its operation, the Structural Genomics Consortium solved the structures of 451 proteins that have relevance to human health and disease, exceeding its target of 375 structures. These include proteins associated with diabetes, cancer and infectious diseases such as malaria. Structures can be viewed in the gallery on the Consortium website.

In 2007, the Wellcome Trust committed £16 million to a second phase of the Consortium, during which time it will aim to solve an additional 600 structures including a number of human membrane proteins. The choice of target structures is based on interest from the academic and pharmaceutical communities, expertise within the Consortium and scientific impact. See an overview of the target list [PDF 368KB].

Data produced by structural genomics programmes integrate with other functional genomics studies, which use large-scale, high-throughput technologies to study gene function; e.g. the work of the International Knockout Mouse Consortium in the USA and EU.

The Consortium's work is expected to have a tremendous impact on human health by furthering our understanding of relevant proteins and by supplying new targets for therapeutic intervention. It will also provide the structural framework for the rational design of new or improved drugs that can inhibit or enhance protein function.

Collaborate with the Structural Genomics Consortium

Biomedical scientists are encouraged to collaborate with the Consortium and are invited to apply for the Visiting Scientist Programme. Researchers studying genes or proteins that are of mutual interest to the Consortium can apply for a place to carry out functional and structural studies at one of the three nodes in the UK, Canada and Sweden.

Art and the Structural Genomics Consortium

In 2006, the Graphic Thought Facility design team constructed a colourful and thought-provoking display depicting a number of the Consortium's protein structures in bright neon signs. These were displayed throughout 2007 in the windows of the Wellcome Trust headquarters on Euston Road in London.

For further information about the Structural Genomics Consortium, please email us: sgc@wellcome.ac.uk.