521-203 Macromolecular Structure &Bioinformatics

Chemistry 610-121 plus 610-122 (before 1998) or 610-141 plus 610-142.

By the end of the program the student should have acquired knowledge of the fundamental concepts of protein and nucleic acid structure, function and bioinformatics (computational molecular biology) necessary for those who wish to continue studies in relevant areas of biophysics, bioinformatics, protein engineering and rational drug design; an overview of the theory of methodologies for the determination and computational analyses of macromolecular structures; an appreciation of the Human Genome Project and its impact on the developing fields of bioinformatics, functional genomics, protein pharmaceuticals and drug discovery; and basic practical skills in the use of personal computers and molecular graphics software for the analysis and molecular modelling of protein and nucleic acid structures derived from relevant sequence databases. The content includes an overview of protein and nucleic acid structure and function; sequence determination of proteins and nucleic acids, strategies involved in the human genome and related sequencing programs; applications of genome sequence data with a particular emphasis on gene products of pharmaceutical relevance; protein sequence alignments; algorithms for predicting protein structure and folding; functional motif consensus sequences; energy minimisation of peptide structures; protein-solvent and protein-ligand interactions; DNA-protein interactions; and practical training in the use of molecular graphics for analysing and modelling protein and nucleic acid three-dimensional structures.

A 2-hour end-of-semester written examination (80%) plus computer assignments including a written report (20%).