PhD Course Protein structures: production, prowess, power, promises, and problems - Registration is open!

General info

Date 

31 Oct 2011 - 04 Nov 2011 

Location

Nijmegen

Website

http://www.nbic.nl/education/nbic-phd-school/cours...

Keywords

protein structure visualisation, analysis and scientific application

Teacher(s)

Vriend, Gert Prof. dr.

Daniel Hoffmann

Robbie Joosten

Hanka Venselaar

Contact(s)

Gelder, van Celia Dr.

Description

In the right hands, protein structures are a 'power'ful tool to answer bio-molecular questions. Knowledge of the structure is a pre-requisite for rational drug design, for biotechnology, for chemical biology, and for answering a whole series of biomedical questions. In this course we will discuss the 'production' of protein structures by NMR, X-ray, and homology modelling. These methods all have their pro's and cons so a certain 'prowess' is needed to follow all 'promises' and start attacking bio-medical
'problems' using protein structures. The course will be split in three parts.
Part 1) Looking and seeing things in protein structures, learning to operate the software, understanding some of the algorithms.
Part 2) Protein structure determination (prediction) with NMR, X-ray, and homology modelling, and the possibilities and problems that come with each of these three techniques.
Part 3) You can choose to apply all that was learned in real-life examples from either the medical or the protein engineering field. Optionally you can work on your own molecule of interest.

The course is suitable for both PhD students working in structural bioinformatics as well as for PhD students in the life sciences who want to learn more about using structural informatioin in their research. The course schedule accommodates both groups, parallel sessions for both groups will be scheduled when necessary.  

Concept programme  

Day 1: Homology modelling seminar (H Venselaar).

YASARA practicals "1) Watching and seeing protein structures", "2) Homology modelling", "3) Answering biological/biomedical questions using protein structures and models".  

Day 2: Protein structure determination and validation seminars (R Joosten, G Vriend).

Practicals "1) X-ray and NMR structure comparison", "2) Protein structure validation and implications"  

Day 3: Electrostatics and molecular dynamics seminars (D Hoffmann).

Practicals "1) Role of electrostatics", "2) Answering biological questions with MD"  

Day 4: Protein structure comparison seminars (Guest, H Venselaar, G Vriend).

Practicals "1) Sequences analysis when structure data is available", "2) Answering medical questions with sequence-structure alignments"  

Day 5: Own project executed with help from CMBI staff. 

Please subscribe via the online enrolment form.