Overview

This 4-day course will address several techniques for the structural and functional characterization of membrane proteins, with special emphasis on Macromolecular Crystallography, Mass Spectrometry, Electron Microscopy and Nuclear Magnetic Ressonance. The information provided by each technique, their applications in biological systems, major benefits and limitations will be discussed.

The course is organized with lectures in the mornings and interactive tutorials in the afternoons. In addition, the selected applicants will be grouped and work on a case study (based on 2-3 papers covering techniques of interest and a questionnaire) and gives a presentation at the end of the course.

The course is aimed primarily at PhD students, young Post-Doctoral researchers and others with research activities involving structural biology of membrane proteins. Participants will be limited to 20. Candidate selection will be based on a short CV, a motivation letter from the applicant, and a recommendation letter from the supervisor.

The Masterclass will be held at Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica (ITQB), a scientific research and advanced training institute of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa. The ITQB is located in the Town of Oeiras, at the Tagus river mouth, just outside Lisbon. 

Organizers Margarida Archer (ITQB-UNL), Carlos Cordeiro (FC-UL) , José A. Brito (ITQB-UNL) and Ricardo Gomes (FC-UL)

Sponsored by