News
Celebrating 20 Years of Molecule of the Month
12/22 
Since 2000, the RCSB PDB Molecule of the Month series has introduced millions of visitors to the shape and function of the 3D structures archived in the Protein Data Bank.
Created and illustrated by David S. Goodsell (RCSB PDB-Rutgers and The Scripps Research Institute), this feature tells stories about molecular structure and function, their diverse roles within living cells, and the growing connections between biology and nanotechnology. The growth and popularity of the column led to the development of the PDB-101 educational website. Molecule of the Month content has inspired readers around the world, and is a regular read for students and researchers alike. Columns are so compelling that they have been accessed nearly a million times in 2019.
To celebrate this milestone 20th anniversary, Goodsell’s column for January 2020 offered a personal meditation on the growing revolution in structural biology that provides these amazing glimpses into biology.
Then an article published in BAMBed reflected on the history, usage, and community surrounding this key RCSB PDB series.
David S. Goodsell, Christine Zardecki, Helen M. Berman, Stephen K. Burley
Insights from 20 years of the Molecule of the Month
(2020) BAMBed 48: 350-355 doi: 10.1002/bmb.21360
The celebration continued all year long--the 2020 calendar highlighted the top-accessed articles year after year, culminating in the highest-ranked articles Hemoglobin and Catalase.
