In the past 65 years, structural biology has provided fascinating insights into how biomolecules act together to support and preserve “life” by establishing networks of physical interactions through their complementary shapes. More recently, we have learned that some biomolecules do not have a well-defined shape but are rather malleable. This concept largely increases the scope of intermolecular communication and provides opportunities for regulation of function by influencing this malleability. Even more recently, functional interactions have been shown to exist between spaghetti-like molecules, which are able to bind tightly to each other while preserving their disorder (as in a tangle of ropes).
Among the three major structural biology techniques, NMR spectroscopy is virtually the only technique able to study disorder and pathways of conformational and dynamic linkages. Methodological and technological advances, including the development of ultra-high-field magnets, have brought large complex systems into reach of NMR spectroscopy. Exciting times are ahead of us, when, leveraging on the unique capabilities of NMR spectroscopy to monitor molecules “in motion”, we will be able to understand functional regulation through conformational heterogeneity, disorder and dynamics.
In this international event, to celebrate the first two 1.2 GHz instruments in the UK, we will showcase the contribution of NMR spectroscopy at ultra-high-field to the elucidation of biological mechanisms. In addition, we will discuss the future of NMR, in particular with respect to the integration of NMR spectroscopy in hybrid structural biology approaches.
The event is open to national and international doctoral students and researchers from both academia and industry.
Organisers
Teresa Carlomagno - University of Birmingham, UK
John Christodoulou - University College London, UK
Conference Speakers
Hashim Al-Hashimi – Columbia University, New York, USA (Keynote Speaker)
Lindsay Baker – University of Oxford, UK
Marc Baldus – Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Andrew Baldwin – University of Oxford, UK
Orsolya Barabas – University of Geneva, Switzerland
Martin Blackledge – Institute of Structural Biology, Grenoble, France
Davide Calebiro – University of Birmingham, UK
Teresa Carlomagno – University of Birmingham, UK
John Christodoulou – University College London, UK
Clemens Glaubitz – University of Frankfurt, Germany
Flemming Hansen – University College London, UK
Gabriella Heller – University College London, UK
Babis Kalodimos – St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA
Józef Lewandowski – University of Warwick, UK
Steve Matthews – Imperial College London, UK
Rina Rosenzweig – Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
Michael Sattler – Technical University Munich, Germany
Ben Schuler – University of Zurich, Switzerland
Remco Sprangers – University of Regensburg, Germany