Macromolecular Structural Biology

Structural biology is a field focused on understanding biological macromolecules such as proteins, DNA, and RNA. Deciphering the effects of changes to the structure of these biological macromolecules helps elucidate their function and the part they play in diseases. This ultimately assists in various fields including biotechnology, drug discovery and design of therapeutics.
The course is aiming to provide students with a thorough overview (theoretical and practical) of the most important and recent methods applied to structural biology (i.e. X-ray crystallography, Small Angle X-ray scattering, single-molecule Cryo-electron microscopy), focusing in particular on the scientific objectives that these techniques can help to achieve.
The course is ideally linked to those dealing with protein engineering and structural bioinformatics.

After following this course, the students will develop a better capability to analyze the correlation between structure and function of macromolecules, and a better understanding of the experimental strategies applied in structural biology. The theoretical and practical approaches that characterize the course will stimulate the critical and judgment skills of the students.