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Name of Collaboratory :
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Alliance for Cellular Signaling (AfCS)
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Logo :
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URL :
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http://www.cellularsignaling.org/ |
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Collaboratory Status
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| Operational
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Start Date :
1999
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End Date :
2009
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Primary Collaboratory Function :
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Distributed Research Center |
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Secondary Collaboratory Functions :
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Domain(s)
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cellular signaling (cell biology, chemistry, biochemistry, bioinformatics, cellular engineering) |
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Brief Description
of the Collaboratory :
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The Alliance for Cellular Signaling (AfCS) goal is to create a complete model cell, accounting for the cell signalling behavior of a cell. The project originally focused on two mouse cells, B Lymphocyte and Myocyte. However, in 2003, AfCS made the decision to switch to the RAW 264.7 macrophage cell line.
Work is centered around identification of all the proteins that comprise the various signaling systems, the assessment of time-dependent information flow through the systems in both normal and pathological states, and the reduction of the mass of detailed data into a set of interacting theoretical models that describe cellular signaling.
AfCS bench research is conducted in seven cooperating labs. Three of these labs are housed in the UT Southwestern Medical Center (Cell Preparation, Protein, and Antibody) and the other four are housed at UC San Francisco Veterans Hospital (Signaling Assays), Stanford (Microscopy), Cal Tech (Molecular Biology) Vanderbilt University, and UC San Diego Super Computing Center (Bioinformatics). Participants are categorized according to funding stipulations as participating investigators, AfCS employees, or alliance members.
AfCS, working with Nature Publishing group, is also coordinating the construction of an ambitious Signalling Gateway, an online resource for the cell signalling community. A major part of the gateway will be approximately 3,000 molecule pages. Each Molecule page is intended to be a complete and current literature review about one protein molecule relevant to cell signalling. Together, they would form the most comprehensive database of signalling information to date.
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Access to
Instruments :
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2-D gel analysis, mass spectrometry, and advanced confocal, epifluorescence, and total internal reflection microscopy (none for remote operation) |
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Access to
Information Resources :
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Alliance Labs' data (online database of results and analysis conducted by participating labs), reports
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Access to
People as Resources :
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Expert consultation from other participating specialists |
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Funding Agency
or Sponsor : |
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| Agouron Research Institute |
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| Merck Genome Research Institute, The |
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| United States Department of Health and Human Services |
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National Institutes of Health (NIH) |
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National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) |
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National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) |
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National Cancer Institute (NCI) |
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| University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas |
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Notes on Funding Agencies/Sponsors:
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Organizations with Funded Participants:
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| Organization name: |
Approx # of participants:
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Description of organization's role(s): |
| California Institute of Technology (Caltech) |
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Molecular Biology Laboratory
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| Duke University |
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| University of California, San Diego (UCSD) |
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San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) |
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Bioinformatics Laboratory
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| San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center |
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Laboratory for Development of Signaling Assays
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| Stanford University |
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Microscopy Laboratory
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| University of California, Berkeley |
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| University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas |
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Antibody Laboratory; Protein Chemistry; Cell Preparation and Analysis Laboratory
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| Vanderbilt University |
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Lipidomics Laboratory
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Organizations Otherwise Associated:
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| Organization name: |
Approx # of participants:
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Description of organization's role(s): |
| University of Michigan |
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| TOTAL
PARTICIPANTS: |
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Notes on Participants/Organizations:
Core lab participants: 25 Ph.D.s, 40 technicians, & 8 programmers in 8 functional laboratories @ 6 sites
Also advisory boards, and 700 Alliance members
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Communications Technology
Used :
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Polycom ViewStations, website, email lists, electronic message boards, electronically distributed newslettters |
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Technical
Capabilities :
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Management of technical resources
Access control/login facilities
Support for transition between synch and asynch
Directory of services/experts/resources, Awareness of people's activities
Asynchronous object sharing
Index/metadata, General search capability, Centrally controlled knowledge base, Vetted knowledge based of multiple authors, Common file space, Data stream capture, Email/attachments
Asynchronous conversation
Threaded discussion, Audio capture and replay, Video capture and replay, Web forms, Email
Synchronous object sharing
Data conferencing, Application sharing
Synchronous conversation
Audio, Video
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Key Articles : |
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Abbott, A. (2002). Alliance for cellular signaling: Into unknown territory Nature, 420, 600 - 601.
Li, J., Ning, Y., Hedley, W., Saunders, B., Chen, Y., Tindill, N., Hannay, T. & Subramanian, S. (2002). The Molecule Pages database Nature, 420, 716-717.
R. Taussig, R. Ranganathan, E. M. Ross and A. G. Gilman (2002). Overview of the Alliance for Cellular Signaling Nature, 420, 703 - 706.
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Project-reported performance data
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Images
of the Collaboratory: |
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Organizational Chart
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