A new center for research on structural biology has been established at the University of California, Davis, through a major award from the W.M. Keck Foundation in Los Angeles. The $850,000 gift will help equip laboratory suites in the chemistry department for X-ray crystallography -- a method that produces high-resolution images of protein structure -- and establish a new protein expression laboratory in Briggs Hall of the Division of Biological Sciences. The facilities, which also include faculty laboratory space in each building, collectively will be named the W.M. Keck Center for Structural Biology. "Structural biology is a critical and exciting field because it helps scientists understand all biological processes more fully," says Mark McNamee, dean of the biological sciences division. "For example, the field is shedding light on apoptosis (programmed cell death), DNA recombination and repair, and the function of proteins involved in the cell cycle. The Keck award is helping us give the structural biology program a strong start, and substantially augments existing strengths in biological sciences and chemistry at UC Davis." During the past two years, the campus has strengthened its faculty in the field, recruiting three scientists with expertise in X-ray crystallography. Andrew Fisher, new to the chemistry department in 1996, quickly established a vigorous research program that includes three graduate students and two undergraduates. Enoch Baldwin and David Wilson, who joined the division's Section of Molecular and Cellular Biology this past July, are establishing their research programs this year, and will begin to train undergraduates and graduate students. Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef notes, "The Keck award certainly honors the UC Davis commitment to students, but it also recognizes the scholarly potential of the junior faculty recruited for the structural biology program. The grant will allow us to acquire equipment that opens up significant research opportunities and strengthens our sciences' curriculum."