Structural bioinformatics

The aim of the course is to provide students a thorough overview of the computational tools, and some of the underlying theory, to study the dynamics of biomolecules by computer simulation techniques. The course covers progresses in the development of atomistic, coarse-grained and quantum mechanical simulations and expand on methods for structure predictions based on statistical and evolutionary data and on hybrid methods that integrate structural biology techniques (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Small Angles X-Ray scattering, Cryo-electron microscopy) and computer simulations to increase the accuracy of computer simulations and experiments. The course is ideally linked to those dealing with protein engineering and structural biology.

After following this course, students will know how computer simulations of biomolecules can be used to investigate biological problems at the molecular level.