The course will present a multidimensional and integrated approach to the characterization of molecular interactions.

The course will include lectures on:
(a) state of the art expression and purification methods to handle protein complexes, membrane proteins and proteins that require eukaryotic expression for correct folding.
(b) surface plasmon resonance (SPR), isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and their application to the study of fundamental biological processes and to drug discovery.
(c) fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) applied to study protein-protein interactions and dynamics in live cells.

PROGRAMME:

NOVEMBER 12 [Main Auditorium]
8.30	Reception
9.00	Overview
	Paula Sampaio and Frederico Silva, IBMC, University of Porto, Portugal
9.45	Biophysics in support of drug discovery
	James Murray, Vernalis R&D, Cambridge, UK
10.45	Coffee break
11.15	Surface Plasmon Resonance to study the interaction of viral proteins with cytokines and chemokines
	Antonio Alcamí, CNB-CSIC, Madrid, Spain
12.00	From the Koff
	James Murray, Vernalis R&D, Cambridge, UK
13.00	Lunch break
14.30	ITC - the technique and its applications
	Margarida Bastos, Faculty of Sciences University of Porto, Portugal
15.30	Protein Interactions by Calorimetry: General Concepts
	Adrián Velázquez-Campoy, BIFI, University of Zaragoza, Spain
16.30	Coffe break
17.00	Aplications of ITC in the characterization of the Energetics and Kinetics of the Interaction of Amphiphiles with Lipid Bilayers
	Maria João Moreno, FCT, University of Coimbra, Portugal
17.45	Protein Interactions by Calorimetry: Applications
	Adrián Velázquez-Campoy, BIFI, University of Zaragoza, Spain
18.30	End of day 1

 

NOVEMBER 13 [Main Auditorium]
9.00	Imaging cell biochemistry: from state-of-the-art to Systems Microscopy
	Alessandro Esposito, The Hutchison/MRC Research Centre, Cambridge ,UK
10.45	Coffee break
11.15	Studying inducible protein interactions in the membrane and the nucleus by FRET and FCS
	György Vámosi, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, Hungary
12.00	FLIM: from biomolecular interactions to functional analysis in cells and in vivo
	Valeria Caiolfa, CNIC, Madrid, Spain
13.00	Lunch break
14.30	Library methods for soluble expression of difficult proteins and their complexes
	Darren Hart, EMBL Grenoble
15.30	Membrane protein manipulation: a quick guide
	Ricardo Pires, IBMC, University of Porto, Portugal
16.30	Coffe break
17.00	Small cysteine-rich and cysteine-free proteins: the challenges of natural anticoagulants
	Pedro Pereira, IBMC, University of Porto, Portugal
17.45	End of day 2

 

NOVEMBER 14 [Labs- room 2.23 for ITC and SPR; room 2.25 for Journal Club and room 1.07 for FRET]
9.00	Practical Sessions 1
10.45	Coffee break
11.15	Practical Sessions 1
13.00	Lunch break
[Auditorium C]
14.30	Baculovirus-assisted eukaryotic protein expression
	Bruno Almeida, IBMC, University of Porto, Portugal
15.15	Practical Sessions 2
16:30	Coffee break
18:30	END OF THE DAY

 

NOVEMBER 15 [Labs- room 2.23 for ITC and SPR; room 2.25 for Journal Club and room 1.07 for FRET]
9.00	Practical Sessions 3
10.45	Coffee break
11.15	Practical Sessions 3
13.00	Lunch break
[Auditorium C]
14.30	SPR: applications and troubleshooting
	Silvia Pileri, GE Healthcare
15.15	Practical Sessions 4
16:30	Coffee break
18:30	END OF THE DAY

 

NOVEMBER 16
[Auditorium A]
9.00 - 11:45	RESULTS DISCUSSION and Closing
10.45	Coffee break
12.00	FRIDAY NOON SEMINAR [MAIN AUDITORIUM]

Download Schedule

The practical sessions will be divided into 4 rotations of 4 groups:
- FRET (Paula Sampaio, Valeria Caiolfa and Moreno Zamai)
- SPR (Silvia Pileri and Bruno Almeida)
- ITC (Margarida Bastos and Frederico Silva)
- Journal Club preparation

The course information, data and evaluation will be assisted by a moodle platform. Course participants will receive their access login and password close to the start date.