The NCDIR – National Center for Dynamic Interactome Research
Our Center, the NCDIR, couples together an established mass spectrometry resource, a cell biology/protein chemistry laboratory, a high-throughput systems biology resource, and a computational biology center. At Rockefeller University, the Cell Biology and Biochemistry Core is supervised by NCDIR Principal Investigator Michael Rout. There are two subsections of the Macromolecular Analysis Core; at Rockefeller University the Mass Spectrometry Core is overseen by Brian Chait, and at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle Washington, the Microarray Core is overseen by John Aitchison. Andrej Sali directs the Bioinformatics Core located at the University of California San Francisco.
The NCDIR is managed at three levels: Michael Rout, the Principal Investigator, acts as the Director of the Technology Center, and has ultimate responsibility for the research and education program in its entirety. The Core 1 co-applicants, John Aitchison, Brian Chait, and Andrej Sali, act as Project Directors. The Program Director and Project Directors form the Internal Steering Committee and are the governing body of the program. NCDIR personnel.
The NCDIR is comprised of six Cores. The focus of Core 1 is on research and development. Core 2, the Driving Biological Projects, focus on application of the research and consequent technology development. Cores 3, 4, 5, and 6 provide the framework for NCDIR infrastructure, education and training, dissemination to the biomedical community, and leadership.
About the National Centers for Networks and Pathways (TCNP)
The TCNP program was designed to address technology roadblocks in proteomics by fostering the development of new technologies and approaches for studying, in real time, the actions and interactions of proteins within cells. The program supports three independent research centers that cooperate in a networked national effort to develop new analytical technologies, methods, reagents, and infrastructure to accelerate the characterization of complex biochemical pathways and networks of protein interactions. They collaborate with biomedical researchers through several mechanisms, providing a synergistic push-pull between technological advancement and biomedical problem solving. The centers ensure broad access to the technologies, methods, and reagents they develop, and provide interdisciplinary academic and peer training for biomedical researchers. Each center integrates biological, technological, and informatics capabilities, but each focuses on different technologies and systems, with corresponding strengths. Cooperation among the centers allows them to achieve a broader scope of research than would be possible if they functioned independently.
For more information on the TCNPs, contact Douglas Sheeley, Ph.D., National Center for Research Resources, (301) 594-9762, sheeleyd@mail.nih.gov.
