| Venue: | Institut of Neurosciences and Biophysics 1, Cellular Biophysics | Seminar-Room 249, 1st Floor, Geb: 15.1, E-2 |
| Start: | Wednesday, November 22nd , 2006 |
| Time: | "Introduction to Statistical Physics": 13.30 - 15.00, |
| Break from 15.00 to 15.30, | |
| "Molecules of Life": 15.30 - 17.00. |
22. November 2006: "Structure and Dynamics of the Cell" (Schurr)
Cells are the basic building blocks of organisms. Organelles comprise reaction spaces and compartmentalize cells in interacting functional units. Variations in the cell interior allow cells to fulfill specific roles. Cells provide a "home" for the molecules of life.
06. Dezember 2006: "Molecular interactions and forces" (Merkel)
Physical interactions between molecules that are important for the structure and dynamics of biomolecules are discussed. Electrostatic interactions (point charges, screened point charges, dipoles), van der Waals forces, hydrogen bonds, and hydrophobic interactions will be covered.
20. Dezember 2006: "Amino Acids" (Kaupp)
Chemical structure of generic and unusual amino acids. Side groups: biological function and modification. Where does an amino-acid residue like to be placed: hydrophobicity scale of amino acids. Labeling of amino acids and proteins: fluorescence tags and cross-linking.
10. Januar 2007: "Protein folding" (Kaupp)
Recapitulation: forces that keep a protein in shape. Motifs of protein structure: α-domain and β-structures. Folding and flexibility. What is so special about membrane proteins? Prediction, engineering, and design of protein structures. Intrinsically unfolded proteins and beyond.
24. Januar 2007: "Lipids and Membranes" (Merkel)
The lecture will lay the foundation for the understanding of the structure of proteins, nucleic acids, and membranes. The chemical structure of the most common biological lipids will be discussed. Their self-assembly into fluid bilayer phases and some properties of these fluid mosaic structures will be covered.
07. Februar 2007: "Nucleic Acids" (Seidel)
In this lecture the physical chemistry and nucleic acid function will be discussed. Starting from the monomeric building blocks the increasing complexity of nucleic acids will be introduced: single strands, double strands determined by the key determinants (sugar pucker, glycosidic bond conformation, hydrogen-bonding and base stacking capabilities), loops and bulges, supercoiled DNA and higher order structures in viruses and chromatin. Conformational changes and bending are crucial to understand protein binding, transcription and translation.
21. Februar 2007: "Hydrodynamic Properties" (Kaupp)
The lecture will introduce the techniques to study macromolecular assemblies of proteins. Dynamic light scattering, gel electrophoresis; sedimentation and ultracentrifugation; size-exclusion chromatography..
07. März 2007: "Scattering Methods" (Richter)
The lecture introduces basing scattering techniques for the investigation of macromolecular structures and assemblies: neutrons and x-ray scattering. The lecture will describe major facilities for the production of x-ray synchrotron and neutron beams. Then I will discuss instrumentation for experiments at intermediate spatial resolution such as small angle scattering and reflectrometry. In each case I will illustrate the power of the techniques by some examples. Then, I will turn to inelastic scattering techniques facilitating a space time resolution of molecular motions. I will discuss neutron spin Echo and backscattering techniques and exemplify these techniques again with experimental results.
BioSoft