Making sense of structural biology

The Structures of Lifeedited by Alisa Zapp Machalek National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Institute of General Medical Sciences, 2001. Free download of pdf from http://www.nigms.nih.gov/news/publist.html (60 pages) NIH publication number 01 2778Timely with the commencement of funding for the first seven (now nine) P-50 Centers for Structural Genomics last year, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) has released a booklet entitled The Structures of Life. The NIGMS provides a substantial collection of informative booklets and brochures to educate the public about research areas receiving funding. The publications are available free of charge and can be requested from their website at http://www.nigms.nih.gov/news/publist.html. Although all the NIGMS booklets are informative, The Structures of Life, one of the more substantial publications with 60 pages, is probably one of the best.The Structures of Life, written by Alisa Zapp Machalek (an active staff writer for the NIGMS since 1995) presents a comprehensible introduction to structural biology without condescending oversimplification, which is often a trademark of texts aiming to educate the public. In fact, The Structures of Life covers an impressive amount of information, and I found it a great help in exciting my colleagues, even those with a strict biochemistry or genetics background, about structural biology. Structural biology is probably one of the more expensive and laborious endeavors in the biosciences, and we are well served with a publication demonstrating the value of molecular structures in contemporary, human-health-related research. Machalek accomplishes this task by interspersing clear descriptions of proteins, their structures and structural determination methods, with timely applications to health-related research, such as the development of HIV therapeutics or novel pain killers that block the COX-2 cyclooxygenase. By relating health concerns and well-known pharmaceutical trade names with short biographies of students excited about their structural work, The Structures of Life could help attract young people to the field; influx of new talent is certainly needed considering the rapid expansion of structure-based biomedical research.In addition to well-selected content, The Structures of Life has appealing layout and graphics, which puts several textbooks (not to speak of scientific journals) to shame. High quality graphics are satisfyingly informative, and a few cartoons provide relief from the seriousness of the subject matter. I was hard pressed to find any gross oversimplifications or inaccuracies (which tend to plague texts addressing non-specialists) in this booklet. One could take issue with the statement that ‘Alpha helices are spirals’ – even the non-specialist might relate, for example, to ‘cork screws’, which is more accurate in a mathematical sense.In summary, The Structures of Life is an excellent resource for advertising structure-related biomedical research. I certainly recommend this booklet for those wishing to excite undergraduate students, to educate their scientific co-workers, and to show non-specialist and laypersons why structural biology is such an important field of biomedical research with direct and tangible effects on all our lives.