Predicting 3D Structures of Proteins and Nucleic Acids

• Understand protein structure determination techniques.

• Predict secondary and tertiary protein structures using homology modeling tools.

• Learn ab initio approaches for nucleic acid and protein prediction.

• Gain hands-on experience with molecular visualization tools like Chimera.

• Explore applications of molecular dynamics in drug discovery.

Introduction and Overview
• Importance of 3D structure prediction in research and drug discovery.
• Overview of tools and techniques to be covered.

Conceptual Session: Fundamentals of Protein Structure Prediction
• Protein structure levels: Primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary.
• Overview of homology modeling and ab initio prediction.
• Key computational tools: Basic principles and workflows.

Hands-On Session 1: Homology Modeling
• Step-by-step demonstration using a popular tool (e.g., SWISS-MODEL or MODELLER).
• Practical exercise: Predicting a protein structure based on a given sequence.
• Tips for troubleshooting and interpreting results.

Hands-On Session 2: Visualization with Chimera
• Introduction to Chimera for molecular visualization.
• Practical exercise: Visualizing the predicted protein structure.
• Annotation and analysis of secondary and tertiary structures.

• Undergraduate or postgraduate degree in Biotechnology, Bioinformatics, Biochemistry, or related fields.
• Professionals in pharmaceutical research, structural genomics, or computational biology.
• Individuals keen on exploring drug discovery and bioinformatics techniques.