"Computational Aspects of the Protein Target Selection, Protein

Production Management and Structure Analysis Pipeline"

The course will teach computational aspects of protein production and 3D structure analysis, covering aspects of the pipeline from protein target and domain selection, highlighting experience in protein production from the Oxford Protein Production Facility and aspects of the PIMS Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) designed to manage Target, Construct and Experiment data. The course will further cover crystallisation experience and suitability of different screens for different protein classes. The course will cover computational aspects of the validation and deposition of ligands and protein structures. The basic principles of 3D database technology and the associated tools for data analysis to molecular biologists wishing to understand the wealth of structure information available.

The course is aimed at PhD students and post-docs to give them a familiarity with how to further improve their management, productivity and success in protein production and how the use of structure data can be used in their own projects, particularly in the study of structure to function.

Software tools and databases for the management of both protein production and the analysis of 3D structural data for proteins and nucleic acids, through robust pipelines for target selection, expression, purification, crystallization and structure analysis make use of the application of a wide range of software and computational technologies. The course is intended to cover the computational aspects of characterizing structure of biological macromolecules. One of the formidable challenges facing researchers today remains informatics: how to make sense of the massive amount of data available. The PDBe group have developed software and data management tools to serve as fundamental building blocks for 21st century medical research. This structural information is a key to understanding the molecular processes of life and to accelerating the development of drugs. The knowledge of the atomic structure of the building blocks of life is of importance out of all proportion to the volume of the data. In biological science macromolecular structure is key because it can show the scientist how and why proteins work at the atomic level and therefore the underlying reason behind all forms of illness and disease. The increasing automation of experimental molecular biology and the application of information technology in the biological science have led to a fundamental change in the way biological research is done.

The appropriateness and strategic importance of this course is reflected in for example the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research particularly in Structural Biology where the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Roadmap recognises that molecular science is using a range of sophisticated techniques that generate large amounts of data, and biology is changing fast into a science of information management. Researchers need methods to evaluate, combine, and visualize these data. In a similar manner The Wellcome Trust's Strategic Plan for 2005 - 2010 includes increasing support for the use of knowledge that arises from biomedical research for health benefit. Use of large databases, software tools, and automated testing systems is becoming part of everyday life in science.

The official language of the Course will be English.