# Core 2: Structural Cell Biology (SCB) Core

> **NIH NIH P01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIF-LAWRENC BERKELEY LAB · 2021 · $745,064

## Abstract

SUMMARY - CORE 2: STRUCTURAL CELL BIOLOGY (SCB)
A major challenge for cancer structural biology in SBDR4 is to structurally define the DNA repair (DR) proteins
and assemblies that maintain genomic integrity. However. DR proteins and complexes have encoded flexibility
and function in spatially and temporally coordinated complexes that make their structural characterizations so
challenging. With SBDR investigators, Core 2, the Structural Cell Biology (SCB) Core overcomes these
extreme challenges by providing access to and expertise on cutting-edge structural biology technologies
needed to probe DR proteins and complexes and not available in individual research institutions.
Aim 1. Determine structures, conformations and assembly states. The SCB Core, centered at a national
synchrotron facility, will provide macromolecular crystallography (MX) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS)
data collection and beamline scientist-level expertise for SBDR members. MX provides high resolution atomic
structures, while SAXS can rapidly assess flexibility, solution conformation(s), and assemblies. SCB SAXS
includes ligand or buffer screening and assessing DNA bending, via GOLD-SAXS.
Aim 2. Detect folds and conformations for integrative structural biology. Analysis of large complexes in the
Projects, by megadalton structural mass spectrometry (MS) and with SAXS-validated structure predictions, will
provide testable hypotheses on their own, or will accelerate CryoEM studies at individual institutes.
Aim 3. Define molecular architectures in reconstituted systems and in the cell through synchrotron soft X-ray
tomography (SXT) of reconstituted phase transitions and cells and super-resolution fluorescence
measurements for quantitative measurements of DR assemblies, that would otherwise be problematic for
traditional structural methods.
The SCB Core is centered at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) synchrotron, where three beamlines (12.3.1,
8.3.1, and National Center for X-ray Tomography/NCXT) will provide SAXS, MX, and SXT data collection to
SBDR members. For enabling access to additional structural technologies and capabilities, SCB has branches
at Calgary (MS), New York (super-resolution microscopy), Oxford (MX), and Scripps (MX).
All four Projects will use the SCB Core, regardless of structural expertise in member laboratories, to optimally
and efficiently address Project structural and mechanistic Aims in ways that typical laboratories and beamline
visits cannot or do not do. Together, these SCB modalities allow SBDR-5 interrogation of dynamic DR
machines from atomic to cellular scales. The broad, long range objective of the SCB Core is to support SBDR
Projects to determine the impact of sequence variations, the means to dissect multiple functions, and the
mechanisms whereby flexible and dynamic DR machinery functions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10271098
- **Project number:** 2P01CA092584-21
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIF-LAWRENC BERKELEY LAB
- **Principal Investigator:** Gregory L Hura
- **Activity code:** P01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $745,064
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2001-09-27 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10271098

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10271098, Core 2: Structural Cell Biology (SCB) Core (2P01CA092584-21). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10271098. Licensed CC0.

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