Report on EMBO Practical Course on the
Structural Characterization of Macromolecular Complexes
Grenoble, France June 4 to 10, 2012
Aim of the course:
The aim of this course is to teach participants how to expedite structural biology projects involving
macromolecular complexes by exploiting diverse experimental approaches. The course concerns the
techniques used to produce, purify and reconstitute multi-subunit protein and protein/nucleic acid
complexes and to characterize them structurally using synchrotron-associated methods
(crystallography and small-angle scattering) together with complementary techniques including
electron microscopy and NMR. By the end of the course, participants should have an increased
awareness of the spectrum of techniques useful for tackling difficult problems in structural biology. In
particular, the course should sharpen their abilities to devise and optimize an experimental strategy
most suitable for their own project.
Outcome:
We received 180 applications to take part in this course. We accepted twenty students and postdocs
from 13 different host lab countries and of 18 different nationalities (listed below). The course
consisted of a series of 24 lectures delivered by 16 external and 5 local speakers as well as 12
practicals run by 18 instructors. These lectures and practicals covered topics that included
recombinant co-expression, library methods for protein expression, biophysical interaction assays,
interaction databases, yeast two-hybrid methods, DARPin technology, mass spectrometry, smallangle scattering, NMR, X-ray crystallography, and electron microscopy. A number of participants
brought their own samples to characterize during the practicals. Feedback was highly positive by both
speakers and participants alike.
Course Organizers:
Elspeth Gordon, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
Darren Hart, European Molecular Biology Laboratory
Carlo Petosa, Institut de Biologie Struturale
Guy Schoehn, Unit of Virus Host Cell Interactions
Winfried Weissenhorn, Unit of Virus hosts Cell Interactions
List of Invited Speakers:
Name
Radu Aricescu
Imre Berger
Matthew Bowler
Elisabetta Boeri
Erba
Birgit Dreier
Country
United Kingdom
France
France
France
E-mail
radu@strubi.ox.ac.uk
berger@embl.fr
matthew.bowler@esrf.fr
elisabetta.boeri-erba@ibs.fr
Institute
University of Oxford
EMBL Grenoble
ESRF, Grenoble
Institut de Biologie Structurale, Grenoble
Switzerland
bdreier@bioc.uzh.ch
Anne-Claude Gavin
Kay Grünewald
Edward Lemke
Kiyoshi Nagai
Malene Ringkjobing
Christophe Romier
Vladimir Rybin
Helen Saibil
Michael Sattler
Christiane
Schaffitzel
Carsten Schultz
Bertrand Séraphin
Montserrat Soler
López
Dmitri Svergun
Song Tan
Andrei Turinsky
Germany
United Kingdom
Germany
United Kingdom
France
France
Germany
United Kingdom
Germany
France
gavin@embl.de
kay@strubi.ox.ac.uk
lemke@embl.de
kn@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk
malene.ringkjobing-jensen@ibs.fr
romier@igbmc.u-strasbg.fr
rybin@embl.de
h.saibil@mail.cryst.bbk.ac.uk
sattler@helmholtz-muenchen.de
bschaff@embl.fr
Department of Biochemistry
University of Zurich
EMBL Heidelberg
University of Oxford
EMBL Heidelberg
MRC LMB, Cambridge
Institut de Biologie Structurale, Grenoble
IGBMC, Illkirch
EMBL Heidelberg
Birkbeck, University of London
Technische Universität München
EMBL Grenoble
Germany
France
Spain
schultz@embl-heidelberg.de
seraphin@igbmc.fr
montse.soler@irbbarcelona.org
Germany
United States
Canada
svergun@embl-hamburg.de
sxt30@psu.edu
turinsky@wodaklab.org
EMBL Heidelberg
IGBMC, Illkirch
Institute for Research in Biomedicine
(IRB), Barcelona
EMBL Hamburg
Penn State University, Pennsylvania
Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto
List of Participants:
First
Name
Nadia
Last Name
Sex
Nationality
Position
Country
Institute
Arnaudo
F
Italian
PhD student
MRC-LMB, Cambridge
Moshe
Ben-David
M
Israel
PhD student
United
Kingom
Israel
Adrien
Dupin
M
French
PhD student
France
Christoph
Andrea
Meritxell
Goebl
Gomez
Granell
M
F
F
Austrian
Chile
Spain
PhD student
Post-doc
Post-doc
Austria
Italy
Spain
Ricardo
Gudino Carrillo
M
Ecuador
PhD student
Austria
Georgios
Hatzopoulos
M
Greek
Post-doc
Anne
Kuhlee
F
Germany
Post-doc
United
Kingdom
Germany
Aleksei
Lulla
M
Estonia
Estonia
Markus
Matthes
M
Germany
Research
Scientist
PhD student
Marguerita
Ganesh
McCarthy
Pathare
F
M
Irish
Indian
PhD student
PhD student
Ireland
Germany
Karishma
Satia
F
Kristian
M
Higher scientific
officer
PhD student
United
Kingdom
Denmark
Elena
StødkildeJørgensen
Stolboushkina
United
Kingdom
Denmark
F
Russia
Post-doc
Russia
Michelle
Martin
Andrea
Tonkin
Turk
Varga
F
M
F
Canada
Slovenia
Hungary
PhD student
PhD student
Post-doc
Canada
Germany
Austria
Tal
Yahav
F
Israel
PhD student
Switzerla
nd
List of Practicals:
Practical
Germany
The Weizmann Institute of Science,
Rehovot
Institut Européen de Chimie et de
Biologie, Bordeaux
University of Graz
Universita degli Studi di Pavia
Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia,
CSIC, Madrid
Research Institute of Molecular
Pathology, Vienna
Oxford University
Max Planck Institute of Molecular
Physiology, Dortmund
Institute of Technology / University of
Tartu
Max Planck Institute for Biophysical
Chemistry, Göttingen
University of Limerick
Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry,
Martinsried
Institute of Cancer Research, London
Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus
University
Institute of Protein Research,
Pushchino,
University of Victoria
Gene Center at LMU, Munich
University of Vienna, Max F. Perutz
Laboratories
University of Zurich, Switzerland
Instructor
e-mail
1
BioSAXS on an ESRF beamline
Adam Round
Petra Pernot
around@embl.fr
rejma@esrf.fr
2
Macromolecular Crystallography on an ESRF
beamline
Microscale Thermophoresis to measure
intermolecular innteractions
Elspeth Gordon
gordon@esrf.fr
Stefan Duhr
Vladimir Rybin
Stefan.Duhr@nanotemper.de
rybin@embl.de
Thermofluor Stability Assay
Darren Hart
Philippe Mas
hart@embl.fr
mas@embl.fr
iRefWeb tutorial : protein interaction
databases
Andrei Turinsky
turinsky@wodaklab.org
5
6
Protein/Nucleic Acid Interactions
Negative-Stain Electron Microscopy
Daniel Panne
Guy Schoehn
Irina Gutsche
panne@embl.de
schoehn@embl.fr
gutsche@embl.fr
7
Biophysical/Biochemical Characterization
Winfried Weissenhorn
Pauline Macheboeuf
weissen@embl.fr
pmache@embl.fr
8
9
10
11
12
Isothermal Titration Calorimetry
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
Florescence Polarization
Visit of EM instruments
Visit of MS instruments
Vladimir Rybin
Bernhard Brutscher
Florent Bernaudat
Guy Schoehn
Luca Signor
rybin@embl.de
bernhard.brutscher@ibs.fr
florent.bernaudat@ibs.fr
schoehn@embl.fr
luca.signor@ibs.fr
3
4
Course Program:
Poster advertising the course:
Group Photo: