Training

Structural biology, determining the three-dimensional shape of a protein, can tell us a lot about how a protein functions and the role it plays within a cell. Bioinformatics data derived from structural determination experiments can aid biological researchers asking a wide variety of questions. It aides the understanding of how DNA mutations might alter a protein’s shape, disrupt a catalytic site, or alter the binding affinity of a pharmaceutical compound.

This course explores bioinformatics data resources and tools for the interpretation and exploitation of bio-macromolecular structures. It will focus on how best to analyse available structural data to gain useful information given specific research contexts. The course content will investigate the impact of genetic variation on structure, predicting protein structure and function, and exploring interactions with other macromolecules as well as with low-MW compounds. Participants will also have an opportunity to explore protein docking using HADDOCK.

• Public repositories of structural data: Protein Data Bank (PDB) and Electron Microscopy Data Bank (EMDB), and tools to search and analyse information in these repositories from PDBe (Protein Data Bank in Europe)
• Computational approaches to structure prediction: ModBase, Rosetta, PHYRE, Interactome 3D
• Protein docking: HADDOCK
• Impact of genetic variation on protein structure: Ensembl VEP, DBSeq, SAAPdb
• Protein analysis and classification: Pfam, CATH, SCOP, InterPro, PDBeFold, PDBePISA, ProFunc
• Tools and resources for drug discovery: ChEMBL

After this course, you should be able to:

• Access and browse a range of structural data repositories
• Determine whether appropriate structural information exists, applying available structure-quality information
• Build a structural model for a protein which has a structurally characterised relative and evaluate its quality
• Evaluate the potential impact of genetic variation on a structure
• Predict the function of a protein based on sequence and structure data
• Explore protein complex modelling approaches 

All participants are expected to bring poster that will be displayed during the course outside the training room. Posters should include information on your current research interests and how the course relates to this work.

All posters should:

• be A2 in size - 420mm x 594 mm
• be in a portrait orientation
• include your photograph and contact information

Catering is provided throughout the duration of the course.

All participants will be accommodated at the Wellcome Genome Campus Conference Centre for four nights.