Dear BBer,
As I hope you are all aware CCP4 has been well supported throughout its existence by BBSRC grant income. This Research Council funding is vital for the continued success of the CCP4 collaboration and to support its software development, distribution, and out-reach activities. This core funding has underpinned CCP4's activities and enabled us to generate commercial license income to complement the core grant. On the 24th April 2013, we will be submitting our five-yearly grant-renewal application to the BBSRC. This will be reviewed over the next few months, and will be considered in the highly competitive, responsive mode funding meeting of BBSRC committee D in September/October. We are writing to ask those of you who are keen that CCP4 should continue in its work to help in ensuring a positive outcome to this application. Historically, we have been fortunate to draw on letters of support that we have uploaded to the BBSRC, and which have had a number and weight that has helped to make the case for funding indisputable. This year, BBSRC have indicated that this approach presents challenges to them in respect of identifying independent refereeing downstream. We are therefore proposing instead to collect and hold letters of support from users of the suite who wish to voice such support, but to provide the BBSRC with a summary analysis of those letters rather than with the letters themselves. To keep numbers appropriate, we would really need to receive some sort of letter from PIs, Reserch Fellows, and senior postdocs. Those letters should be specific about the high-impact work that CCP4 sustains, and ideally should reference the workplan that WG1 has agreed for the current renewal. This relates specifically to work packages as follows WP0: "Cloud infrastructure", facilitating mobility of data and projects from site to site, ( especially synchrotrons to home lab to laptop) and providing access to powerful compute-resources to apply challenging algorithms to difficult problems. Headed up by Eugen Krissinel WP1: Improved integration of structure-determination with data collection at the synchrotron. This involves feed-forward (better data passed from data analysis to structure determination) and feed-back (better informed decision making at the synchrotron as a result of better use of automated pipelines to know how useful the data are as soon as possible). Headed up by WP2: Improved models for MR. This is to build on AMPLE to make better models for molecular replacement: an exciting area that will make unsolveable structures solveable. Headed by Airlie McCoy and Dan Rigden WP3: Atom-free and reparameterized atomic refinement. A tool to make EM-models and/or poor homology models into a better starting point for solving structures. Not unlike the morphing from PHENIX, but significantly different and possibly better. Headed by Kevin Cowtan WP4: Extending the statistical model for refinement to confront the real-world issues that data is compromised (overlapped, from multiple crystals, collected while the crystal is being zapped by a death-star(TM) grade death beam). Headed by Garib Murshudov If you are such a person, or could persuade such a person to contribute, then please could we ask for your help. Letters and/or e-msils should go to Keith Wilson ([email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>) AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, and no later than 16th April. Many thanks for your help and support, Martin Professor Martin Noble Northern Institute for Cancer Research Paul O'Gorman Building Medical School Newcastle University Framlington Place Newcastle Upon Tyne NE2 4HH E-mail: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Direct line: +44 (0) 191 246 4466
