Generating solutions

The Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC)  is an international public-private partnership incorporated as a not-for-profit organization in July 2004 that supports the discovery of new medicines through open-access research. Its core mandate is to determine the 3D structures targeting human proteins of biomedical importance and proteins from human parasites that represent potential drug targets. To date the SGC has been responsible for more than 25% of global output of new human protein structures and more than 50% of the global output of protein structures from human parasites. The SGC is led by Aled Edwards at the University of Toronto with additional activities at Oxford University. Each site is led by a Scientific Director reporting to Edwards. The SGC began in 2003 and the first two phases of the project has delivered over and above its initial goals. Phase III of the SGC began July 1, 2011. A total of $61 million has been committed by funding partners, of which $28 million is from the public sector (including $2.5 million for one year from Genome Canada) and $33 million from the private sector, including GSK, Pfizer, Novartis, Lilly, Life Technologies, Abbott Laboratories and Takeda Pharmaceuticals, with at least two new companies requesting membership. In addition, SGC has secured at least $8M of in-kind support from pharmaceutical companies. http://www.thesgc.com/