Travel and Contact  Staff Only  Site Map  Help?     EMBL Hamburg > Courses and Conferences   Invitation   Poster   Speakers   Sponsors   Organisers   Programme   Pictures      16 September      15 September      PDB Exhibition   Structural Genomics in FP6 and beyond: the EU support. Scientific Officer - Structural Genomics European Commission, Directorate General for Research SDME 8/55 B-1049 Brussels josefina.enfedaque@cec.eu.int In 2002, the European Commission-funded project, "Structural Proteomics in Europe" (SPINE), provided a spinal column to the field in an unprecedented multinational effort to coordinate an ambitious programme on Structural Genomics. Following this example, five large projects funded by the EU Sixth Framework Programme are starting in 2004. They cover the standardisation of synchrotrons (BIOXHIT), the structure of membrane proteins (E-MeP) and RNA viruses (VIZIER), the study of large protein complexes (3D-REPERTOIRE), and one 3D electron microscopy network (3D-EM). A big infrastructures grant to the European synchrotron sites is supporting access, training and networking (IA-SFS). Smaller projects are devoted to NMR and protein biochemistry. All these efforts should be clustered to build the synergy that Europe needs to strengthen the field. Several actions may be taken to increase the strategic impact of the SG effort in Europe: To define a series of strategic objectives for the European SB/SG in the following years (2005-2010). To perform a detailed study on the availability and performance of the existing infrastructures and national resources. To co-ordinate the efforts in addressing the bottlenecks. To give visibility to the field by highlighting its achievements. To establish gateways between different disciplines by training our first generation of "Structural Genomicists". In conclusion, the investment of now up to 108 million Euro plus the forthcoming opportunities in the current and future Framework Programmes can pay back much more than the actual research it funds. More effort in strategic planning is needed, as SG is key to elucidate basic biological mechanisms as well as for drug design, therefore having a potentially high impact in the society. A Structural Genomics Forum and a series of Coordination Actions could positively contribute to this effort by providing at the same time the basis for establishing future research funding priorities.