Program Snapshot
The Common Fund's Building Blocks, Biological Pathways, and Networks program is designed to develop new technologies for studying molecular events that comprise biological pathways and networks in cells in order to catalyze studies of normal and disease-related processes. The program consists of three initiatives:
- National Technology Centers for Networks and Pathways (TCNPs)
- Metabolomics Technology Development
- Standards for Proteomics and Assessment of Critical Reagents for Proteomics
Program Highlights
Researchers make SWEET discovery about how sugar moves through plants
Having nutrients move throughout the body is as important for plants as it is for animals. In the January 13, 2012 issue of Science, a group led by Dr. Wolf Frommer of the Carnegie Institution, funded in part by the Common Fund’s Building Blocks, Biological Pathways and Networks program, has identified specific proteins within the SWEET family that have a major contribution to the movement of sugar from leaves to other important areas of plants. These newly reported findings have major implications for both plants and humans.
Fluorescent Probes to Shed Light on Biological Function
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University working in the Fluorescent Biosensors for Networks and Pathways center have created a new class of genetically expressed fluorescent protein fusions, called dyedrons, that may be used to study biological functions of single molecules within cells. The report appears in the J of the American Chemical Society (PMID20698676. Aug 18, 2010. Vol. 132:11103-11109).View the funded research...
Currently Funded National Technology Centers
Fluorescent Biosensors for Networks and Pathways,
Carnegie-Mellon University/University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA)
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