With the sequencing of the human genome completed, life science is entering the new era of structural and functional genomics and proteomics, in which the rapid identification and instantaneous sequencing of genes central to cellular processes and diseases leads to questions concerning the structure and function of the gene products. These new challenges require new methods of analysis and interdisciplinary efforts. In structural genomics, great progress has been made at so-called 'structure factories' . But there remains a deficit in methods for studying the relationship between structure and function in proteins. Recently, FTIR spectroscopy has emerged as the most powerful tool for structural/functional investigations in biology because of its ability to provide information on processes at multiple levels of organization. It has been used to investigate structural-functional relationships and molecular mechanisms at the atomic level in purified proteins, but also for large protein complexes; for investigations of environmental toxin pathways and programmed cell death in cells; and for tissue classification and disease diagnosis in tissue. Although, in all of these studies, SR IR light sources bring FTIR spectroscopy to the cutting edge in terms of the spectral range and spatial resolution, it remains true that it is used by a few specialized research groups. The new era of life science research coincides with an unprecedented development in European capabilities: we have two well established IRSR beamlines at Daresbury and Orsay, joined last year by three new ones and more are under construction or are planned. BASIE will bring together interdisciplinary scientists from 10 EU countries, ready to develop together specialized equipments, techniques and software optimized for a range of life science studies covering all levels of organization from molecules to tissues. In this way, BASIE may be the leader in Europe for these strategic researches.
I. et al. (Tue,) studied this question.