27-Nov-2023
As a celebration of the 30th anniversary of Structure, structural biologists were asked about their expectations on how their respective fields are likely to develop in the next ten years.
This included input on a variety of structural biology disciplines, including Cryo-EM and Cryo-ET, MicroED, and continuing AI developments. Martin Walsh of Diamond Light Source (part of Instruct-UK) outlined the ever-increasing capability of macromolecular crystallography and other X-ray techniques, driven by synchrotrons such as Diamond.
The speed that structures can be determined with this technique is still extremely efficient, and was particularly effective in solving structures of the antigenic response to SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. Roughly one quarter of the PDB database of SARS-CoV-2 X-ray structures were deposited by Diamond Light Source. This is just a snapshot of what crystallography can still do, and demonstrates that as synchrotrons and their technology continue to evolve and enhance, so will the MX field.
Stephen Burley, Chair of the Instruct-ERIC Scientific Advisory Board, also gave their input to the piece, on the PDB and its various similar archives. Stephen adds to the discussion on artificial intelligence, but also champions the importance of integrated structural biology approaches going forward - the importance of a multi-platform approach in order to maximise the strengths of all structural biology technologies is crucial for the most impactful results.
