Opening doors for structural biology in Africa
The HIV Virology Laboratory, headed by CAPRISA research associates Professors Lynn Morris and Penny Moore, at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) recently became part of the Synchrotron Techniques for African Research and Technology (START) grant which is a UK-Africa partnership that aims to strengthen structural biology in Africa.
The grant consists of structural biology laboratories across different South African institutions in partnership with the Diamond Light Source, UK. The first collaborators meeting took place in Cape Town at the beginning of June 2018. Among others, START aims to provide training to African structural biologists, mentorship and access to the various Diamond Light Source beamlines. African scientists will be able to screen and solve crystal and cryo-EM structures at the Diamond Light Source. Through this collaboration, Morris and Moore will have beamtime at the synchrotron in August this year to screen various HIV Fab-gp120 complex crystals that we have optimized.
Photo: (L-R) Colleagues from the NICD— Prof. Penny Moore, Prof. Lynn Morris, Dr. Thandeka Moyo and Dr. Nigel Makoah