The main objectives of this module are:

 

After completion of the course, students are able to

1. define (knowledge)  the correct way to obtain and analyze the structure that belongs to a protein of interest.
2. explain  (comprehension)  the  effects  of  mutations  on  the  structure  and  function  using publicly available software tools (such as YASARA).
3. apply  /  perform  (application)  a  search for  the correct  protein  structure of  interest  and combine this with his/her own knowledge and structural information found elsewhere.
4. distinguish (analysis) between situations in which one has to use either a solved protein structure, a homology model, or sequence based predictions.
5. Recognize the 20 amino acids and the relation between their specific properties (such as charge, size and hydrophobicity) in the context of a protein’s 3D-conformation.
6. evaluate (evaluation) the quality of a protein structure/model, and understand when this is still sufficient to use for research.

The module 

This course focuses on understanding the relation between a protein’s sequence, 3D-conformation, and its function. Students will learn how to obtain, visualize and interpret structural data from several databases in the internet. The course will teach the students how to analyze mutations and their relations to disease using the existing protein structures, and how to predict a protein’s structure from its sequence using homology modelling techniques. The goal of this course is to provide the student with enough knowledge to use the information hidden in protein 3D- conformations in their own research.