Who is this course for?

This course is designed for researchers, structural biologists, and students who need a conceptual and practical framework for interpreting protein function and interaction through the lens of modular domains.

What will I achieve?

By the end of the course you will be able to:

• Define protein domains using structural, functional, and evolutionary criteria
• Distinguish between domains, motifs, and intrinsically disordered regions
• Identify the four major structural classes of protein domains (All-α, All-β, α+β, α/β)
• Navigate and interpret results from key sequence-based and structure-based databases
• Describe the strengths and limitations of different classification systems like Pfam, CATH, SCOP/SCOPe, and ECOD

DOI: 10.6019/TOL.proteins-domains-t.2026.00001.1

Course contents

How and when to access the course

All our courses are designed with flexibility in mind. You can access them for free at any time, just click on the “Enter Course” button.

It is up to you how you use the course; you can either study the full course or you can focus on sections that are relevant to you. To jump between sections, use the navigation bar on the left or the arrows at the bottom of the page. You can also choose whether to complete the course in one go, or over several visits.

The average time to read through the main body of the course is 0.5 hours (not including exercises and external links). The time may vary depending on your prior knowledge and how you choose to work through the course.

Making the most of the course

Learning something new takes time and practice. We encourage you to:

• Use the activities and quizzes to help you check your learning, recall and apply key concepts. Look out for these icons:-

• Revisit sections as and when you need them. Bookmark relevant pages in your browser or use the navigation panel to jump the relevant section.

Getting help and providing feedback

If something isn’t working or if you have a question get in touch by contacting us at trainonline@ebi.ac.uk

Tell us what you thought about the course (both good and bad!) using the “Feedback and help” button found at the top of each page.

Your feedback helps us ensure we are providing training that is relevant and useful for you.

For help and support on EMBL-EBI resources you can contact the helpdesk directly.

Learn more

You can explore other training on offer from EMBL-EBI on our website. We offer online courses, webinars, face-to-face courses and offsite training.