Blindfold predictions

Methods for obtaining information about protein structure from sequence are advancing rapidly. A meeting to evaluate such methods is being organized by the Center for Advanced Research Biotechnology (CARB) (University of Maryland and NIST), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratory, with financial support from NIST. Modelers will be asked to make blind predictions of structures using comparative modeling, threading, or ab initio methods, and to deposit their structures before experimental determinations that are available. The aim is to have approximately ten structures predicted in each of these categories before holding the meeting in the fall of 1994.

Sequences of structures with X-ray and NMR structure determination are unpublished but nearing completion are needed. A pilot request to 12 labs produced six candidate structures. If you are working on a new protein structure and would like to participate on this project please contact: John Moult, CARB, U. of Maryland Biotechnology Inst., 9600 Gudelsky Dr., Rockville, MD 20850, USA. Tel.: 301-738-6241, FAX: 301-738-6255, e-mail: jmoult@iris4.carb.nist.gov.