Structural biology

Coordinators of the Network
Adrian Goldman / tel. +358 9 191 58923 / adrian.goldman (at) helsinki.fi

Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki
Macromolecular Structures Group - Institute of Biotechnology

Rik Wierenga / tel. +358 8 553 1199 / rik.wierenga (at) oulu.fi

Biocenter Oulu, University of Oulu

Protein Crystallography Core Facility - Biocenter Oulu

Structural biology and biophysics covers a wide range of topics, from protein production via structure determinations to biocomputational analysis. The Finnish national network comprises four major disciplines, all focused on experimental determination of macromolecular structures and elucidation of mechanisms by various time-resolved techniques. They are X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, other time-resolved biophysical techniques, and electron microscopy. This network also benefits from central resources, such as CSC – IT Center for Science Ltd.) and from the Bioinformatics network. Four of the biocentres have macromolecular x-ray crystallography facilities (Institute of Biotechnology, BioCity Turku, Biocenter Oulu, Biocenter Kuopio), while the Institute of Biotechnology has a significant investment in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, cryo-electron microscopy and novel three-dimensional methods and time-resolved optical spectroscopy (TROS). The National Biological NMR Centre at the Institute of Biotechnology provides state-of-the-art NMR instrumentation, methodology and expertise.

Technology platform services

X-ray

Biocenter Oulu
- Protein Crystallography Core Facility, Rik Wierenga

BioCity Turku / Turku Centre for Biotechnology
- Protein Crystallography Core Facility, Tassos Papageorgiou

Institute of Biotechnology
- Protein Crystallisation Facility, Adrian Goldman

- Biocenter Kuopio Facility, Juha Rouvinen

NMR & MS

Institute of Biotechnology
- Finnish Biological NMR Center, Perttu Permi

Biocenter Kuopio
- High-resolution mass spectrometry facility, Juha Rouvinen

Electron microscopy

See Biological Imaging network / Electron microscopy

Events

Other upcoming events

Course contents include: cross-technology structural data integration methods, computational modelling and protein design, macromolecular complex production, electron tomography and correlative imaging techniques, biomolecular interactions, hybrid approaches in structural biology.

Past events

Basic X-ray crystallography: How to solve a protein structure, 16 hrs, 2 ECTS (with theory, practicals and final exam) February - March 2012. Turku Centre for Biotechnology, X-ray facility; Responsible person Tassos Papageorgiou.

Structural biology in science and medicine - BFSB Roadshows in Turku, Helsinki (Meilahti, Viikki), Tampere and Oulu in October-December 2011.

EMBO practical course on Modern Biophysical Methods for protein-ligand interactions,
October 17-21, 2011, Department of Biochemistry, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
(http://events.embo.org/11-biophysical-methods/)