NIH provides grant for 3D ribosome structures

DNA Software, a previous recipient of grants from the National Institutes of Health, has recently been awarded three Fast Track small business grants.

The bioinformatics tool maker says in an announcement that one grant addresses the shortage of 3-dimensional structural information corresponding with the wealth of macromolecular sequences available. The 3D structures for the complete ribosomes of many pathogenic bacteria are still unknown, according to the company, and they can aid in structural prediction and drug development, even for antibiotics to battle drug-resistant pathogenic bacteria. Under the NIH grant, the company's  Nucleic Acid CAD (NA-CAD) technology-which provides all-atom 3D predictions of RNA-based structures with near-crystal structure accuracy-is being used to model ribosome structure and function with the aim of predicting 3D structures of ribosomes for clinically relevant pathogens.

Under another NIH grant, the software maker is combining features of kinetics and modified nucleotides with its existing Oligonucleotide Modeling Platform (OMP) assay-development tool to help produce ultra-fast, sensitive, and selective diagnostics.

And the goal of the third grant is to derive thermodynamic parameters for modified nucleotides in its wet lab via the Modifieds software module, which allows users to simulate and design assays that incorporate modified nucleotides within the OMP program.

- see the release