Solving structural biology challenges with the home-lab capabilities at the Centre of Molecular Structure
The Centre of Molecular Structure (CMS) provides services and access to state-of-art instruments, which cover a wide range of techniques required by not only structural biologists. CMS operates as part of the Czech Infrastructure for Integrative Structural Biology (CIISB), and European infrastructures Instruct-ERIC and MOSBRI. CMS is organized in 5 core facilities: CF Protein Production , CF Biophysics, CF Crystallization of proteins and nucleic acids, CF Diffraction techniques, and CF Structural Mass Spectrometry.
CF Diffraction techniques employs two laboratory X-ray instruments equipped with high flux MetalJet X-ray sources: a single crystal diffractometer D8 Venture (Bruker) and a small angle X-ray scattering instrument SAXSpoint 2.0 (Anton Paar). The configurations of both instruments represent top tier of possibilities of laboratory instrumentation. Apart from standard applications, the instruments are also extended for advanced experiments such as in-situ crystall diffraction, crystal dehydration, in-situ UV-Vis spectroscopy or SEC-SAXS. The setups enable easy access and fast turn-around of samples under different conditions, but also collection of high quality end-state data without further need for synchrotron data collection in many cases. CF Diffraction provides services in synergy with the other Cfs on-site, therefore scientific questions can be quickly answered as they emerge from the experiments.
Dr Cyril Barinka will talk about structure-assisted design of inhibitors of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA).
The webinar is 55 minutes, followed by a 5 minute Q & A.
Speakers
Jan Dohnálek
Ph.D. guarantor and head of CMS
Jan has spent most of his career in structure-function studies of enzymes, receptors and protein-protein complexes. He received his PhD in Applied physics from the Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering, the Czech Technical University in Prague, after which he moved to prof. Keith Wilson’s lab in York, UK for a postdoc. Back in Prague, he became the head of group at the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences in 2010. He designed the Centre of Molecular Structure within project BIOCEV, and he was heavily involved in bringing the Czech Republic as a member country into the European infrastructure for structural biology Instruct-ERIC. Currently, Jan is the head of the Laboratory of Structure and Function of Biomolecules at the Institute of Biotechnology, the head and guarantor of the Centre of Molecular Structure and the chairman of the Czech Society for Structural Biology, among other activities.
Jan Stránský
Ph.D. head of CF Diffraction techniques at CMS
Jan has spent his scientific carrier also in the structural biology community. He got his PhD in Applied physics from the Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical engineering, the Czech Technical University, while working in Jan Dohnalek’s group. After a short period at the Diamond Light Source beamline I23, he came back to the Institute of Biotechnology, where he became part of CMS. His focus shifted from crystallography towards SAXS, but he still provides the expertize of both methods to users.
Dr Cyril Barinka
Institute of Biotechnology, Laboratory of Structural Biology
Cyril graduated in biochemistry at Charles University, Prague, and did his PhD at the Institute of Organic chemistry & Biochemistry, Prague, in Jan Konvalinka lab. He spent five years at the National Cancer Institute at Frederick, MD, USA in the Jacek Lubkowski lab, focusing on protein crystallography. In 2010, he came back to Prague, the Czech Republic, where he established the Laboratory of Structural Biology at the Institute of Biotechnology. His research is focused on structure-function relationship of several zinc-dependent hydrolases, including histone deacetylases (HDACs) and glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII). The objective of his work is to understand the role of these enzyme in (patho)physiology with the focus on basic biochemical and structural studies.
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