gribskov@fcrfv1.ncifcrf.gov ("Gribskov, Michael") (04/27/91)
Dr. Curtiss: This may be at somewhat of a tangent to your request for information from existing biocomputing facilities since I am not currently a part of such a facility, however I though I would send my comments, for whatever they are worth. It wasn't comepletely clear to me from your posting whether you are proposing a biocomputing lab that would be oriented towards providing a service using existing techniques, or to basic research in biocomputing. My impression is that you meant a research facility that would also have a strong service component. There are a number of facilities that meet this description such as NCBI (Lipman), EMBL (Argos), MBCRR (Smith), NCI-Laboratory of Math. Biol. (Maizel), NCI-Advanced Scientific Computing Lab (NCI Supercomputer facility), and probably many others. There are as well many more service oriented facilities. I think that you are probably well aware of the sites I listed above so I will not bother to include addresses. My interests can be succinctly described as computational molecular biology. I think a biocomputing facility could be an enormous help to biological researchers in providing expertise and assistance on the following topics, since most molecular biologists do not have the time to become expert in these (for them) peripheral areas. protein structure prediction secondary structure homology based modeling structure comparison and definition of structural motifs superposition of multiple structures inference of sequence characteristics from structure recognition of sequence patterns typical of structural motifs definition of fundamental structural elements sequence comparison and definition of sequence motifs sequence alignment multiple sequence alignment inference of patterns from aligned sequences recognition of sequence patterns protein motifs DNA/RNA signals (promoters,terminators,splice signals) database screening for patterns molecular dynamics RNA folding phylogenetic analysis Database development/management (crystallographic and NMR determination of structures) Not to seem pushy, but since I am currently looking for a position, I would be very interested to know if your plans include the possibility of faculty level positions involved with the biocomputing lab. I have 5 years of post graduate experience in the areas of proteins structure and protein and nucleic acid sequence analysis and would be very interested in such a position. My main interests are in methods to define and identify protein structural and sequence motifs, in the constraints that structure and function place on the evolution of proteins, and in the analysis of genomic sequence data. I would be happy to send a cv if you are interested. Michael Gribskov Scientist Associate NCI-FCRDC gribskov@ncifcrf.gov (301) 846-5031 -- --- Moderator --- Domain: curtiss@umiacs.umd.edu Phillip Curtiss UUCP: uunet!mimsy!curtiss UMIACS - Univ. of Maryland Phone: +1-301-405-6710 College Park, Md 20742