ProfessorAlfonsoDe Simone

The aim of the course is to provide an understanding by 2nd years students of the relationship between macromolecular structure and function in sufficient detail to place this knowledge in the context of earlier courses in biochemistry and to provide the foundation for the treatment of more advanced topics in the final year. In particular the course aims to give the students insight into how the utilization of advanced analytical techniques can be used to define protein and other biomolecule structure and how this structural insight is used in modern advances in enzymology, protein-ligand interactions and photosynthesis.

The aim is to provide an understanding by second year undergraduates of the relationship between macromolecular structure and function in sufficient detail to place this knowledge in the context of earlier courses in biochemistry and to provide the foundation for the treatment of more advanced topics in the final year. In particular the course will give the students insight into the theory and practice of how protein samples can be expressed, purified and engineered for structural and functional analysis. This will include insight into how bioinformatics can inform sample preparation and experimental design, how detailed structural information is obtained and how this can be used to facilitate investigation of function at the molecular level.