Origins of this Project

The Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) has been funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to research Women’s and Children’s Health, focusing on the advancement of drug discovery in reproductive biology and disease, child development, and childhood diseases. The SGC plans to generate protein reagents and chemical probes for several potential drug targets for new, safe and effective non-hormonal contraceptives.

Contraceptives allow women to make informed choices about family planning. Research into non-hormonal contraceptives has historically been neglected but is important due to concerns over the side effects of current hormonal contraceptives.

One promising protein target is human phospholipase C zeta 1 (PLCζ1).