Hi Folks, Like many other folks who read, benefit and hopefully contribute to this bulletin board, I am required to stay abreast of the latest cloning, heterologous membrane protein expression, purification, biochemistry, crystallization, and structure solution techniques, as a matter of sheer necessity. So much of my time in the lab everyday is spent banging against one of these walls, so to speak, that it only makes sense to reach out to this extremely diverse and interdisciplinary community in times of genuine need. As is clear from many of the posts (but maybe not all), a lot of people seem to have done their homework (RTFM, tried several things, etc.) and are clearly stuck at the time of posting to the bulletin board.
Consider my case, which I'm sure is also the predicament of many many folks who post here. I am the sole "structural biologist" in a lab in a department of Neurology where I am surrounded by biochemists and cell biologists whose idea of a large-scale culture is 250mL. I can read all I want, use my common sense and brain of limited capacity all I want, and can talk to myself all I want, but in the end, when I am badly stuck, this is not an approach I find scientifically healthy or productive. A couple of other things: Many rules of thumbs for soluble protein constructs, expression, purification and crystallization do not automatically carry over to membrane proteins or large macromolecular complexes or the remaining unsolved mysteries of challenging soluble proteins. I'd rather just delete emails where the subject line clearly indicates my lack of immediate interest in the topic than run the risk of splitting this bulletin boards into many smaller parts. The learning impact from the collective experience of the diverse members of this single historic bulletin board will always be orders of magnitude larger the sum of its individual superspecialized parts. To me, it seems natural that the ccp4bb has, over time, morphed in good ways not originally conceived or intended. If anything, this tide speaks to the collective scientific impact that a global and diverse group of researchers from various interrelated disciplines can have on one other. Many thanks to the amazing members of the ccp4bb! Raji -- Raji Edayathumangalam Instructor in Neurology, Harvard Medical School Research Associate, Brigham and Women's Hospital Visiting Research Scholar, Brandeis University On Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 10:05 AM, Eugene Valkov <eugene.val...@gmail.com>wrote: > I absolutely agree with Juergen. > > Leaving aside methods developers, who are a completely different breed, > there is no such thing as a "crystallographer" sitting in a dark room > solving structures all day. If there are, these are anachronisms destined > for evolutionary demise. > > More and more cell biologists, immunologists and all other kinds of > biologists are having a go at doing structural work with their molecules of > interest themselves without involving the "professionals". Typically, they > learn on the job and they need advice with all kinds of things ranging from > cloning and protein preps through to issues with tetartohedrally-twinned > data and interpreting their structures. > > So, a modern structural biologist is one who is equipped for the wet lab > and has some idea of how to go about solving structures. CCP4BB is a > wonderful resource that is great for both the quality of the advice offered > to those that seek it and for the variety of topics that are addressed in > the scope of structural biology. I have learnt greatly from reading posts > from very skilled and knowledgeable scientists at this forum and then > implemented these insights into my own research. I am very grateful for > this. > > In short, please do not discourage your colleagues, particularly very > junior ones, from posting to the CCP4BB. Some of the questions may appear > quaint or irrelevant but it is easy to simply ignore topics that are of no > interest! > > Eugene > > > On 13 February 2014 14:41, Bosch, Juergen <jubo...@jhsph.edu> wrote: > >> Let me pick up Eleanor's comment: >> is there something like a crystallographer today ? I mean in the true >> sense ? >> I think as a "crystallographer" you won't be able to survive the next >> decade, you need to diversify your toolset of techniques as pointed out in >> this article >> http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/science/articles/10.1038/nj7485-711a >> >> And I'm not quite sure how software developers see themselves, as I would >> argue they are typically maybe not doing so much wet lab stuff related to >> crystallography (I may be wrong here) but rather code these days. >> >> What "type" of crystallographer is a software developer ? >> >> I think like our beloved crystals "we" come in different flavors. And we >> need to train the next generation of students with that perspective in mind. >> >> Just my two cents on a snowy day (>30cm over night) >> >> Jürgen >> ...................... >> Jürgen Bosch >> Johns Hopkins University >> Bloomberg School of Public Health >> Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology >> Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute >> 615 North Wolfe Street, W8708 >> Baltimore, MD 21205 >> Office: +1-410-614-4742 >> Lab: +1-410-614-4894 >> Fax: +1-410-955-2926 >> http://lupo.jhsph.edu >> >> On Feb 13, 2014, at 6:41 AM, Eleanor Dodson <eleanor.dod...@york.ac.uk> >> wrote: >> >> I agree with Frank - it keeps crystallographers modest to know how >> challenging wet lab stuff still is.. >> Eleanor >> >> On 12 February 2014 19:23, Robbie Joosten <robbie_joos...@hotmail.com> >> wrote: >> >> It's not an e-mail bulletin board, but Researchgate seems to be quite >> popular for wet lab questions. IMO the Q&A section of the social network >> is >> a bit messy. That said, the quality seems to improve gradually. >> >> Cheers, >> Robbie >> >> Sent from my Windows Phone >> ________________________________ >> Van: Paul Emsley >> Verzonden: 12-2-2014 19:23 >> Aan: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK >> Onderwerp: Re: [ccp4bb] Sister CCPs >> >> >> On 12/02/14 15:59, George Sheldrick wrote: >> >> It would be so nice to have a 'sister CCP' for questions aboud wet-lab >> problems that have nothing to do with CCP4 or crystallographic >> computing, The is clearly a big need for it, and those of us who try >> to keep out of wet-labs would not have to wade though it all. >> >> >> >> FWIW, the remit of CCP4BB, held at jiscmail-central, is describes as: >> >> /The CCP4BB mailing list is for discussions on the use of the CCP4 >> suite, and macromolecular crystallography in general./ >> >> >> >> Thus wet-lab questions are not off-topic (not that anyone recently >> described them as such). >> >> Having said that, Jiscmail mailing lists are easy to set-up (providing >> that you can reasonably expect that the mailing list will improve >> knowledge sharing within the UK centered academic community) and >> relatively low maintenance. I, for one, would not be entirely unhappy to >> miss out on questions about lysis. >> >> Paul. >> >> >> > > > -- > Dr Eugene Valkov > > Room 3N049 > Division of Structural Studies > > MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology > Francis Crick Avenue > Cambridge Biomedical Campus > Cambridge CB2 0QH, U.K. > > Email: eval...@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk > Tel: +44 (0) 1223 267358 >
