Lecture IYCr2014
Date:
Wednesday, April 30, 2014 (All day) 30 de Abril 12:00 - Auditório da Biblioteca da FCT-UNL
Noam Adir (Schulich Faculty of Chemistry, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel)
Don’t ever give up: unique solutions to unique problems in macromolecular crystallography
Abstract
The rate of determination of X-ray crystallographic structures has increased exponentially, with almost 100,000 X-ray structures having been deposited in the Protein Data Bank. These structures have essentially changed the way we perceive the beauty of life at the molecular, cellular and even whole organism level. Many factors have contributed to the increase in the speed of structure determination: molecular biology techniques, 3rd generation synchrotron radiation facilities, increased computing power, structural genomics centers, etc. However in many cases, obtaining a specific structure in a specific condition with the greatest functional relevance is still dependent on the determination, imagination and sometimes even courage of the single researcher/lab. While each new structure brings with it an enormous amount of functional details (and is always cause for celebration), in many cases the most important structures elude determination due to the chemical conflict between the crystalline and the true biological states. In many cases, years pass between the first structure of a protein and obtaining a glimpse of its “true” functionality.
In my talk I will describe a number of experimental systems that my lab has been studying for more than a decade. In each case, an experimental problem had to be overcome by the development of a specific solution. These include overcoming problems in protein solubility and crystallization, structure determination and refinement, elucidation of enzyme function and identification of ligand binding modes. The systems I will describe include proteins from photosynthetic systems, bacterial enzymes and metal ion transporters, stress related proteins and RNA from the eukaryotic ribosome. In all of these cases, we always believed that the solution to the problem was out there, we just had to keep looking.
Short biography
Professor Noam Adir joined the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry, Technion in Haifa Israel in 1995. There he established the Technion Centre for Macromolecular Structure Research, the first macromolecular crystallography lab in the Technion. His interests include: X-ray crystallographic determination of biologically relevant macromolecular structures – proteins, nucleic acids, and complexes; determination of the structure and function of photosynthetic reaction centers and antennas; energy and electron transfer in biological systems; development of devices for solar energy conversion via direct use of photosynthetic membranes; elucidation of factors leading to protein stability/instability and complex assembly/disassembly; enzymes structure and development of novel inhibitors. He is presently the chairman of the Israel Academy of Science's committee for Synchrotron Radiation and also serves as the Deputy Executive Vice President for Research of the Technion.