BUFFALO, NY, July 11, 2005 - - - - - Dr. Herbert Hauptman, Buffalo's Nobel Laureate and President of the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, will be giving a talk at the Conference on New Frontiers in Neutron Molecular Crystallography at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. This invited lecture entitled, "Neutrons break the low resolution barrier to direct methods" will focus on Dr. Hauptman's work on the development of new methods for structure determination using neutron diffraction.

In structural biology research, the accurate determination of proton positions, protonation states and hydration in macromolecular systems remains an ongoing challenge. Neutron Macromolecular Crystallography (NMC) can serve as a powerful tool to address this challenge. The objective of this conference is to focus the structural biology community's thinking and interest into the area of NMC. Dr. Hauptman and his colleagues are pursuing the creation of more powerful techniques for addressing biological problems such as molecular structure determination.

In January, Dr. Hauptman and his team travel to Japan to participate in an International Workshop on Neutron Research. As a result of that workshop, he has entered into a collaborative project with colleagues from the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI), Ibaraki University in Japan, and the Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (IGBMC) in France.

A mathematician by training, Dr. Hauptman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1985 for his development of the formula known as “direct methods”, where his application of classical mathematics finally resolved an issue that had defeated generations of chemists. Utilizing the direct methods technique, the structures of thousands of molecules have now been solved and new structures are added to the list each year. As a result, many new drugs to combat some of society’s deadliest diseases, heart disease, cancer, and high blood pressure, have now been designed. Dr. Herbert A. Hauptman has been a member of the HWI staff since 1970.

Founded in 1956, the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute (HWI) is an independent, non-profit facility specializing in the area of basic research known as structural biology. Located in the heart of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, immediately adjacent to downtown, our staff of almost 60 individuals is committed to improving human health by studying the causes of diseases, as well as potential therapies, at their basic molecular level. In May 2005, HWI moved into their new state-of-the-art Structural Biology Research Center located at 700 Ellicott Street. For more information visit HWI's web site at www.hwi.buffalo.edu.