BIOENG 225
Biomolecular Structure Determination
The detailed, atomic-level structure of biomolecules is at the basis of our understanding of many biochemical processes. The knowledge of these 3D structures has provided fundamental insights in the organization and inner workings of the living cell and has directly impacted the daily lives of many through the development of novel therapeutic agents. This graduate level course is designed to provide students with an in-depth understanding of crystallography for macromolecular structure determination. The underlying theory, computational approaches, and practical considerations for each step in the process will be discussed.
Topics
- (1) Introduce students to the atomic structure of macromolecules, 2) review methods for structure determination, (3) describe the basic theory of diffraction, and (4) provide students with a detailed knowledge of macromolecular crystallography. At the end of the course students will have a solid theoretical and practical understanding of how macromolecular structures are determined to atomic resolution using crystallographic methods. The application of the method to problems in biomolecular engineering will be reviewed.
- The students will be able to (1) interpret diffraction data to determine reciprocal and real space parameters, (2) plan diffraction experiments, (3) use computational methods to solve the crystallographic phase problem (an inverse problem), (4) interpret complex 3-dimensional maps to build atomic models, (5) determine which optimization methods are appropriate for obtaining a refined, validated model, and (6) apply the knowledge to the engineering of biomolecules.
Official catalogue course objectives and student learning outcomes
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026-2027