Structural Biophysics

Catalog description

This course (MB-1) is the first-semester core course for the joint CMU-Pitt graduate program in Molecular Biophysics and Structural Biology (MBSB). The physical properties of biological macromolecules and the methods used to analyze their structure and function are discussed in in-depth lectures. Topics covered include: protein architecture and folding; nucleic acid structures and energetics; structure determination by X-ray crystallography and NMR; optical spectroscopy with emphasis on absorption and fluorescence, NMR spectroscopic methods; other methods to characterize proteins and protein-ligand interactions, such as mass spectrometry, calorimetry, single-molecule manipulation and measurements, and surface plasmon resonance. Sufficient detail is given to allow the student to critically evaluate the current literature. Prerequisites: ( 03-232 or 03-231 ) and ( 09-214 or 09-344 ) and ( 21-122 or 21-120 )