Program Information

Program Information

The objectives of the NIH COBRE program are (1) to strengthen an institution's biomedical research infrastructure through the establishment of a thematic multi-disciplinary center, and (2) to enhance the ability of investigators to compete independently for complementary NIH individual research grants or other external peer-reviewed support.

The COBRE Center in Protein Structure and Function (COBRE-PSF) at The University of Kansas conducts health-related basic research in protein structure and function. It provides research support and mentoring to accelerate the career development of outstanding junior faculty researchers. It maintains core laboratory facilities that are available to researchers statewide. The Center was established in late 2002 through a five-year, $10.1 million grant from the National Center for Research Resources at the National Institutes of Health (5P20 RR17708). The Center has recently been awarded a $10.1 million NIH-NCRR grant to continue to this effort through 2013 to develop our Center. It also receives support from the KU Center for Research, Inc., and the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation. COBRE-PSF currently supports eight junior faculty investigators drawn from various departments at four Kansas universities: The University of Kansas, Kansas State University, Wichita State University and The University of Kansas School of Medicine. New investigators are added as others become independently funded.

Since its inception, COBRE-PSF has supported 24 junior faculty investigators by providing research support and a program of professional development with mentoring by accomplished senior faculty researchers. During the initial five-year period the Center recruited, supported and mentored 24 junior faculty. All have vigorously pursued health-related basic research in the broad thematic area of protein structure and function. As of 2007 their work led to 140 peer-reviewed publications derived specifically from their COBRE-supported research, plus an additional 88 publications that resulted from their post-COBRE careers. Through 2007 our Center's investigators received a total of 69 research grants worth more than $22 million. Collectively, nine COBRE graduates now direct 10 R01 grants plus one R21 grant, one U01 grant, and one NSF Career Award, plus numerous smaller grants.

Our investigators address significant problems in protein structure-function from biological and chemical perspectives in an integrated, multi-disciplinary way. An important feature of this plan is that biologically-oriented scientists work with chemically-oriented scientists, and vice versa, resulting in significant cross-disciplinary broadening of junior faculty early in their careers. COBRE-PSF organizes regional workshops on topics related to protein structure and function. The Center also supports three professionally-staffed Core Resource Laboratories dedicated to protein purification, protein X-ray crystallography, and biomolecular NMR spectroscopy that complement other Core Labs at KU and other Kansas universities.

In recent years, much public interest has centered on the mapping of the human genome and related breakthroughs in the field of genetics. By better understanding the structure and function of various proteins, and the way they come and go in living cells, researchers gain a deeper understanding of how cells work. Through this better understanding, scientists hope to develop new and improved drugs.

The Department of Medicinal Chemistry, which serves as the host department for the COBRE in Protein Structure and Function, is in Malott Hall on The University of Kansas campus.

The COBRE Core Laboratories (Protein Production, Protein Structure and Bio-NMR) are located mostly in the Structural Biology Center on KU's west campus.

Portions of the Bio-NMR Core Laboratory are located within the Multidisciplinary Research Building, which is adjacent the Structural Biology Center on the KU west campus.

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