Structure and biophysics

This volume is a collection of articles from the proceedings of the ISSBMR 7th Course: Structure and Biophysics - New Technologies for Current Challenges in Biology and Beyond. This NATO Advanced Institute (ASI) was held in Erice at the Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture on 22 June through 3 July 2005. The ASI brought together a diverse group of experts in the fields of Structural Biology, Biophysics and Physics. Prominent lecturers, from seven different countries, and students from around the world participated in the NATO ASI organized by Professors Joseph Puglisi (Stanford University, USA) and Alexander Arseniev (Moscow, RU). Advances in nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and x-ray crystallography have allowed the three-dimensional structures of many biological macromolecules and their complexes, including the ribosome and RNA polymerase to be solved. Fundamental principles of NMR spectroscopy and dynamics, x-ray crystallography, computation and experimental dynamics were taught in the context of important biological applications. The ASI addressed the treatment and detection of bioterrorism agents, and focused on critical partner country priorities in biotechnology, materials and drug discovery. The range of topics represent the diversity of critical problems between structural biology, biochemistry and biophysics, in which lies the fertile ground of drug development, biotechnology and new materials. The individual articles represent the state of the art in each area and provide a guide to the original literature in this rapidly developing field.