New Brunswick, N.J. (Jan. 17, 2019) – Rutgers Professor Stephen K. Burley can provide insight on the critical role that 3D molecular structures in the university-based RCSB Protein Data Bank played in developing 210 new drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The drugs – approved from 2010 to 2016 – benefited from 3D structural information generated by biologists worldwide and distributed by the open-access RCSB Protein Data Bank at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, according to a study in the journal Structure.

“This study shows that the discovery of lifesaving drugs depends upon the public availability of structural biology data from public and private sector research,” said Burley, lead author, university professor and Henry Rutgers Chair who directs the university’s RCSB Protein Data Bank and Institute for Quantitative Biomedicine. “These drugs impact treatment of cancer, infection, cardiovascular or respiratory issues, and more.”

The globally unique RCSB Protein Data Bank is the first open-access, digital data resource in biology, and includes 140,000-plus 3D molecular structures. Founded in 1971 and brought to Rutgers in 1998, it is managed by the Worldwide Protein Data Bank partnership between data centers in the U.S., Europe and Asia. U.S. operations are led by Rutgers and University of California-San Diego’s Supercomputer Center. Funders include the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health and U.S. Department of Energy.

Each year, the RCSB Protein Data Bank attracts more than 1 million online users. They include people studying basic biology, biomedicine, computer science, math, physical sciences, materials science, biomedical engineering, bioenergy and renewable energy. “PDB-101,” the data bank’s education and outreach website, attracts more than 600,000 users a year.

Here’s a link to the study: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096921261830426X?via%3Dihub

Here’s a link to a July 2018 story with a photo: http://go.rutgers.edu/wre93549

Burley is available to comment at [email protected]

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