New software to allow scientists to deduce the atomic structure of proteins

Stage in GSE Lifecyle

Primary stage : Create

Related stage(s) : Build Capability

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has highlighted the importance of understanding the mechanisms of life at atomic detail to enable the development of novel vaccines and therapeutics. Electron cryo-microscopy (cryoEM) take images of a protein from multiple views.

When averaged together these images can be used to build atomic models of proteins to allow academic and industrial researchers to understand the structure and function of the virus and our immune system at the molecular level.

CCP-EM, in collaboration with groups from other universities, provides software to do this.  We also educate and train the research community in the best usage of our and others’ software. Our software has been used to solve many SARS-CoV-2 structures including the spike protein targeted by most vaccines.

More information can be found on the project website.

Atomic structure of protein

An image of the atomic structure of a protein.

Team

Collaborative Computational Project for Electron cryo-Microscopy (CCP-EM)

Department(s)

Scientific Computing Department (SCD), Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)

Contact Details

Email : ccpem@stfc.ac.uk

Description

CCP-EM is a small team of researchers and software engineers based in the SCD of STFC at the Rutherford Appleton National Laboratory in Harwell, Oxfordshire.  We collaborate with 15 other research groups from partner universities and institutes to develop the CCP-EM software suite. The suite is used by academics across the world and is licensed pharmaceutical companies supporting a global research community.