This is from the e-mail listserver from D.Net. The author is Rick Havern, dated 7/18/2000.
The restart of the OGR project brought to my mind's forefront the question,
"What is OGR really useful for anyway and why should I care?" I've read the
pages on d.net and the associated links. From the d.net OGR page:
OGR's have many applications including sensor placements for X-ray
crystallography and radio astronomy. Golomb rulers can also play a
significant role in combinatorics, coding theory and communications, and Dr.
Golomb was one of the first to analyze them for use in these areas.
Okay, great, but what does that really mean, what is this x-ray
crystallography, and why should I update my clients, cripes, this project
could cut into my RC5 ranking ;-} I'm happy to say that Scientific American
has come to the rescue with a timely article on the human genome. In the
July 2000 issue, page 52, there is an article in a series about the
implications of the sequencing of the human genome. Brutally summarizing,
the articles state that sequencing the genome is only the beginning, now the
hard work starts, finding value in the knowledge gained. Part of the hard
work is determining the exact form of the DNA and RNA structures, as the
form affects how it interacts. So by now you are wondering, what has this
got to do with OGR? Well, here it is.
The molecules are purified, grown into crystals, then bombarded with x-rays.
The resulting diffraction pattern is then interpreted to determine the
molecules overall shape. The process of x-ray bombarding: x-ray
crystallography. Ah-ha!
The article then states that knowing the form should help drug designers
come up with chemicals to fit the slots on the proteins to activate them or
prevent them from activating. Thus far only 1 percent of the human proteins
have had their structures defined.
If d.net's OGR project can accelerate this process by improving existing
x-ray crystallography techniques, I'm all for it. As a matter of fact, I
think this is a pretty neat use of d.net.
Do we know if anyone out there is waiting for the results of OGR?
My $.02
Rick
The restart of the OGR project brought to my mind's forefront the question,
"What is OGR really useful for anyway and why should I care?" I've read the
pages on d.net and the associated links. From the d.net OGR page:
OGR's have many applications including sensor placements for X-ray
crystallography and radio astronomy. Golomb rulers can also play a
significant role in combinatorics, coding theory and communications, and Dr.
Golomb was one of the first to analyze them for use in these areas.
Okay, great, but what does that really mean, what is this x-ray
crystallography, and why should I update my clients, cripes, this project
could cut into my RC5 ranking ;-} I'm happy to say that Scientific American
has come to the rescue with a timely article on the human genome. In the
July 2000 issue, page 52, there is an article in a series about the
implications of the sequencing of the human genome. Brutally summarizing,
the articles state that sequencing the genome is only the beginning, now the
hard work starts, finding value in the knowledge gained. Part of the hard
work is determining the exact form of the DNA and RNA structures, as the
form affects how it interacts. So by now you are wondering, what has this
got to do with OGR? Well, here it is.
The molecules are purified, grown into crystals, then bombarded with x-rays.
The resulting diffraction pattern is then interpreted to determine the
molecules overall shape. The process of x-ray bombarding: x-ray
crystallography. Ah-ha!
The article then states that knowing the form should help drug designers
come up with chemicals to fit the slots on the proteins to activate them or
prevent them from activating. Thus far only 1 percent of the human proteins
have had their structures defined.
If d.net's OGR project can accelerate this process by improving existing
x-ray crystallography techniques, I'm all for it. As a matter of fact, I
think this is a pretty neat use of d.net.
Do we know if anyone out there is waiting for the results of OGR?
My $.02
Rick
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