Protein Structure and Function

This subject will describe the wide range of structures, functions and interactions of proteins and their importance in biological processes, biomedicine and biotechnology. Emphasis will be on the three-dimensional structure of proteins and their interactions with biological molecules. We will describe experimental and computational techniques and how they help in determining and predicting protein structure and function and aid in the development of new drugs. The subject matter addresses the general properties of protein structure; the major classes and topologies of proteins; evolution of sequence, structure and function; protein synthesis, folding, misfolding, targeting and trafficking; bioinformatics analysis of protein sequence and structure; binding of small molecules to proteins and drug design; protein-protein interactions; effects of mutations on tertiary structure, protein stability and biological functions; enzyme reaction kinetics and mechanisms; motor proteins; transporters.

• 1Describe the molecular basis of the evolution of protein sequence and structure.
• 2Explain the theory behind and practical considerations of experimental techniques used to study protein structure and function.
• 3Devise experiments to analyse protein structure and function using the techniques studied.
• 4Perform computational analysis of protein sequence and structure using bioinformatics and molecular graphics tools.
• 5Critically analyse of the current scientific literature on protein structure and function.