A Structural View of Biology

The course covers a general introduction to the theory and experimental techniques of structural biology (protein expression and purification, protein crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance) and then how to use the structural information to understand biochemical and biological processes. The first part of the course will cover the general introduction to structural biology. The second part of the course will involve discussions and explorations of various structures, led by the instructor but with substantial participation from the students, to understand the molecular mechanisms of selected biochemical and biological processes. In the final part of the course, each student will select and lead discussions on a primary structural biology paper. The overall goal of the course is to increase the understanding of how protein structures are determined, what protein structures look like, and how to use the structures to understand biology.