Arts & Sciences Events
[PAST EVENT] Applied Science and Biology Informational Session
Location
1291Access & Features
- Open to the public
Michael Wiener, Ph.D.
Prof. of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics
University of Virginia
Title of Talk: "Postmodern Structural Biology."
Abstract: If one is truly interested in understanding and/or predicting biology on a molecular level, then the structures of biological molecules are absolutely essential. Although various structural methods have been utilized since the 1930s (or earlier), a reasonable start-date for ?Modern Structural Biology? is the early 1950s, when Pauling determined/discovered the ?-helix and ?-strand, essential elements of proteins, and Watson & Crick (and Franklin!) determined the double helix, essential to our understanding of DNA and the transmission of heritable genetic information. I contend that, approximately 60 years later, we are entering a remarkable era of ?Postmodern Structural Biology.? Multiple new and emergent experimental & theoretical/computational technologies, including next-generation synchrotron x-ray sources, free-electron lasers, the ?resolution revolution? of cryoelectron microscopy, computer simulation, and sparse-constraint/hybrid structure determination methods, among others, are creating multiple new and alternative paradigms for the determination of structures of biological macromolecules.
Contact
[[lrashburne]]