Protein-protein recognition is a precisely designed mechanism by which biological information is processed and transmitted across all known biochemical pathways.
Alterations of the recognition process may lead to dysfunctional states that propagate far beyond the individual protein complex, at the level of the whole biological network.
The workshop will introduce the structural and dynamical basis of the broad variety of existing protein‐protein interactions, emphasizing the interconnection between structural features and typical kinetic and thermodynamic properties, which overall determine the specific role the interactions play in their biological context. Hands‐ on practical sections will facilitate the understanding of the topics introduced in theoretical lectures. The workshop is organized in two main topics, which can be followed independently of each other:
1. Introduction on the structure and the dynamics of protein complexes: Elements of protein graphics and structural bioinformatics (computational hands-on)
2. Protein-protein interactions: an overview of experimental techniques for the analysis (in vitro hands-on)