PDB History
October 2011 Molecule of the Month features historic structures that set the foundation for the PDB archive.
In 2003, the Worldwide Protein Data Bank (wwPDB) was formed to maintain a single PDB archive of macromolecular structural data that is freely and publicly available to the global community. It consists of organizations that act as deposition, data processing and distribution centers for PDB data.
CARB/NIST left RCSB PDB in 2005 (see Emeritus RCSB PDB Leadership).
Stephen K. Burley became RCSB PDB Director in 2014. Helen M. Berman currently serves as Director Emerita.
UCSF joined RCSB PDB in 2019.
Timeline
Updated from The Protein Data Bank at 40: Reflecting on the Past to Prepare for the Future (2012) Structure 20: 391–396.
Events order
Video: Celebrating 50 Years of the Protein Data Bank Archive
Structural biology methods and milestones that helped to build and grow the PDB archive
Selected Historical Publications (All Publications | Citation Information)
- Open-access data: A cornerstone for artificial intelligence approaches to protein structure prediction
(2021) Structure 29: 515-520 doi: 10.1016/j.str.2021.04.010 - PDB 50th Anniversary: celebrating the future of structural biology
(2021) Nature Collection - Synergies between the Protein Data Bank and the community
(2021) Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 28: 400–401 doi: 10.1038/s41594-021-00586-6 - wwPDB biocuration: on the front line of structural biology
(2021) Nature Methods 18: 431–432 doi: 10.1038/s41592-021-01137-z - How the Protein Data Bank changed biology
(2021) Journal of Biological Chemistry Thematic Series - Virtual Issue: The PDB in JBC
(2021) Journal of Biological Chemistry (Issue | Structures) - Creating a community resource for protein science
(2012) Protein Science 21: 1587-1596 doi: 10.1002/pro.2154 - The Protein Data Bank at 40: Reflecting on the Past to Prepare for the Future
(2012) Structure 20: 391-396 doi:10.1016/j.str.2012.01.010 - The evolution of the Protein Data Bank (part of special essay collection on the 40th anniversary of the PDB)
(2011) Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 18: 1310 doi: 10.1038/nsmb1211-1304 - The Protein Data Bank: a historical perspective
(2008) Acta Cryst. A64: 88-95. doi: 10.1107/S0108767307035623 - The PDB: A case study in management of community data
(2004) Current Proteomics 1: 49-57. doi: 10.2174/1570164043488252 - Announcing the worldwide Protein Data Bank
(2003) Nature Structural Biology, 10:. 980. doi: 10.1038/nsb1203-980 - The Protein Data Bank
(2000) Nucleic Acids Research 28: 235-242. doi: 10.1093/nar/28.1.235 - Protein Data Bank
(1971) Nature New Biology 233:223 doi: 10.1038/newbio233223b0
The history of the beginning of the PDB and the development of other biological data collections is outlined in the book Collecting experiments: Making big data biology (Strasser, Bruno J. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2019). For a review, see Helliwell, J. R. (2022). J. Appl. Cryst. 55.
