Structural GenomiX Announces the Appointment of Kevin D'Amico, Ph.D., as Vice
President of Synchrotron Radiation Research
SAN DIEGO, Sept. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Structural GenomiX (SGX) today
announced that it has appointed Kevin D'Amico, Ph.D., as Vice President of
Synchrotron Radiation Research. He is stationed at SGX's facility at the U.S.
Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, Illinois.
Pursuant to a July 2000 agreement between SGX and the Advanced Photon
Source (APS), SGX is funding the construction of a dual undulator beamline
facility at the APS at the Argonne National Laboratory. SGX's first beamline
is an integral part of its high-throughput automated X-ray crystallography
program and is on schedule for commissioning in November 2001. SGX is
planning to construct two additional beamlines in the future.
"Dr. D'Amico was our first choice to head up SGX's first beamline facility
as he has been instrumental in planning and developing it from its inception,"
said Tim Harris, Ph.D., SGX's President and CEO. "Full-time access to the
beamline facility at the APS will provide SGX with the best X-ray source for
crystallography and accelerate our structure determination program for drug
discovery. Rather than having to wait in line with others for access to beam
time, SGX will soon have the ability to use its own beamline year-round in its
customized, high-throughput environment."
The APS is the nation's newest synchrotron radiation source and the only
one producing X-rays from undulator devices. The beamlines will allow SGX
scientists to make precise adjustments to the wavelength of the X-rays
produced by the undulators and utilize advanced structure-solution methods.
This increases the speed with which SGX scientists can determine protein
structures, perform co-complexing experiments, and identify lead compounds.
The customized facility will also include high-throughput, automated
technologies for rapid data collection and interpretation. When completed and
fully operational, the facility will be a state-of-the-art protein
crystallography facility with the capacity for solving thousands of crystal
structures annually. SGX will utilize this capability as a cornerstone of its
technology platform.
SGX's facility at the APS is unique in that it is developed, funded, and
constructed by SGX, without participation from outside academic or industrial
partners. This will allow SGX to use the facilities as frequently and as
efficiently as possible without having to share beam time with other
commercial organizations. Dedicated access to the most brilliant X-rays
available will allow SGX scientists to analyze smaller crystals, larger
proteins, and larger protein complexes than previously attempted.
Dr. D'Amico is responsible for the design, development, and operation of
the SGX beamline facilities at the APS. Prior to his current appointment with
SGX, he had been working as a consultant for the Company in planning and
developing the facility. With nearly 20 years of experience in synchrotron
radiation research at various facilities including the Stanford Synchrotron
Radiation Laboratory and the National Synchrotron Light Source in New York,
Dr. D'Amico has developed beamlines for the study of a wide range of research
areas including those in the life sciences. Dr. D'Amico received a Ph.D. in
Physical Chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. in
Chemistry from Bowdoin College.
Structural GenomiX (SGX) is a leader in experimental and computational
structural biology, transforming genomic information into structural templates
for drug discovery. SGX technologies include advanced bioinformatics tools
for target selection and structure-based functional annotation, automation of
molecular biology and protein biochemistry, high-throughput crystallization,
protein structure prediction by comparative modeling and ab initio methods,
synthetic and computational chemistry, and rapid co-complex structure
determination. SGX's programs include 3D-ID(TM), a program leveraging SGX
technologies toward the discovery and design of novel anti-infectives, protein
kinase and nuclear receptor structural genomics programs, and a five-year $13M
strategic alliance with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation focused on membrane
protein structure prediction and crystallography. SGX is headquartered in San
Diego with additional locations in San Francisco and Argonne, IL.
For more information, please visit the Company website at
http://www.stromix.com.
Company Contact Media Contact
Structural GenomiX Noonan/Russo Communications
Hye Jin Yang Emily Poe
Manager, Corporate Communications Account Executive
858.558.4850 ext. 1127 e.poe@noonanrusso.com
hyejin_yang@stromix.com 212.696.4455 ext. 221
SOURCE Structural GenomiX
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.stromix.com
CONTACT:
Hye Jin Yang, Manager, Corporate
Communications of Structural GenomiX, +1-858-558-4850, ext. 1127,
hyejin_yang@stromix.com; or Emily Poe, Account Executive of
Noonan-Russo Communications, +1-212-696-4455, ext. 221,
e.poe@noonanrusso.com, for Structural GenomiX
|
