Macromolecular Crystallography Unit

The Macromolecular Crystallography Unit at ITQB, coordinated by Professor Maria Arménia Carrondo, is a top research group located in Oeiras, in the Lisbon area, that studies biological molecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids, to a resolution high enough to allow elucidation of the detailed mechanisms by which these macromolecules carry out their functions in living cells and organisms. While the Unit employs mostly X-ray crystallography, the studies are complemented with a wide array of techniques, both structural and biochemical, to answer specific biological questions of each group.

The Unit is presently composed of five laboratories, each one specialized in a different field of research: the Structural Genomics Laboratory, headed by Maria Arménia Carrondo, the Industrial and Medical Applied Crystallography Laboratory, headed by Pedro Matias, the Structural Biology Laboratory, headed by Carlos Frazão, the Membrane Protein Crystallography Laboratory, headed by Margarida Archer and the Structural Virology Lab, headed by Colin McVey. The Structural Genomics Laboratory includes three groups, headed by Elin Moe, Célia Romão and João Vicente.

As part of ITQB-NOVA, our Unit is a member of PCISBIO and Instruct-ERIC.