Structural Bioinformatics and Molecular Modeling

The purpose of this course is that participants gain knowledge on and understand:
- the computational analysis of the principal physicochemical and structural properties which influence the recognition between pharmacological targets and biotechnological drugs and products;
- the accuracy and the applicability domain of in silico approaches used in the development of biotechnological drugs and products;
- the computational strategies for modelling targets, responsible for biological activity, simulating their interaction with biotechnological drugs and their molecular recognition mechanisms at an atomistic level;
- the methods to predict and validate the mechanism of action of biotechnological drugs and products, with particular attention to rational design of studies on animal models, according to the 3Rs principle.

At the end of the course, the student is expected to know:
- the application of the computational methods used in biotechnological research;
to critically evaluate:
- the pros and cons of in silico prediction approaches used for developing biotechnological drugs and products;
to gain:
- the bases for deeply understanding computational methods and results described in scientific literature;
- the capacity to clearly communicate scientific results from in silico studies
to reach lifelong learning skills such as:
- a multifaceted computational knowledgebase, useful for further student's personal study of this topic.
- the capacity to work in the framework of academic or nonacademic institutions actively participating in multidisciplinary projects