The objective of this meeting is to introduce students to the use of advanced techniques for the study of structures of macromolecular assemblies involving protein, DNA, RNA and polysaccharide. Such assemblies regulate spatial and temporal organisation in cells and organisms. The course will focus on the structures and dynamics of membrane channels and receptor systems, cell signalling, DNA replication, protein synthesis, motile systems and viruses. These systems mediate many of the processes that lead to human disease.

There will be discussion of multi-component complex assembly and disassembly, macromolecular systems that drive protein movement, adaptors and templates that lead to cellular co-localisation, allostery and conformational changes over time, and the macromolecular interactions that mediate these regulatory systems. The course will review the techniques used to study protein assemblies and their dynamics, including X-ray diffraction and scattering, electron cryo-electron microscopy, electro nanospray mass spectrometry, NMR, protein docking and molecular dynamics.