Welcome to new PPS students - and a few more links...

This post is very like those I have written at the beginning of the academic year for the past few years; this is because what I have to say now is also very similar...

I would like to offer a warm welcome to the Principles of Protein Structure blog to all students who have recently started studying Birkbeck's Principles of Protein Structure (PPS) course, and a welcome back to any who have taken a break in studies and intend to complete the course this year. Welcome too if you are thinking that you might want to study with us in the future, or if you are just interested in learning more about a fascinating and fast-moving area of research in molecular biology.

I run this occasional blog to link the material that you will be studying in the course to new research developments in the areas of protein structure and function and related aspects of biotechnology and medicine. I might, example, report on talks given in the ISMB seminar series run jointly by the Department of Biological Sciences at Birkbeck and research departments in neighbouring University College London. The programme for Autumn 2018 has the intriguing title of 'Mischievous Microbes'; its themes of microbiology and infectious disease biology have links to some of the later sections of the course. Other posts may be reports from conferences (such as this one at Imperial College, London in December) or summaries of recently published papers in protein structure and allied areas/

Some earlier posts were written by "guest blogger" Jill Faircloth, who took the MSc in Structural Molecular Biology a few years ago and is now working as a freelance science communicator. She introduces herself in this post written in March 2012, in which she also describes how she found the later part of the PPS course and her thoughts on the two choices available for the second year of the MSc.

Do, if you get a chance, look through some blog posts from earlier years to see the kind of topics that we will be discussing. However, don't be discouraged if at this stage of the course you find the science presented there difficult to understand. I can assure you that it will get easier!

I also work part-time as a freelance science writer, and sometimes I even have a chance to write about structural biology. You might like to follow a set of blog posts I wrote from the International Union of Crystallography's triennial meeting in Hyderabad, India last summer (posts from 22 August - 6 September). The first entry, featuring a talk by Sir Tom Blundell, a former head of the Department of Crystallography at Birkbeck (now part of the Department of Biological Sciences) is perhaps most relevant to PPS. Sir Tom was involved in solving the structure of HIV protease, target of some of the most successful drugs for AIDS, and he went on to found a drug discovery company, Astex. This year I reported on a meeting much nearer at hand (in Liverpool) and, specifically, on one of the most exciting advances in structural biology by X-ray crystallography for some years: X-ray free electron lasers.

Finally, the best of luck to new students for the 2017-18 PPS course and for your studies at Birkbeck! We hope that many of you will go on to complete our MSc in Structural Molecular Biology.

Best wishes,

Dr Clare Sansom
Senior Associate Lecturer, Biological Sciences, Birkbeck
Tutor, Principles of Protein Structure

Welcome to PPS students 2015-16!

This post is extremely like those I have written at this time of year for the past few years. This is because what I have to say now is very, very similar...

I would like to offer a warm welcome to the Principles of Protein Structure blog to all students who have just started studying Birkbeck's Principles of Protein Structure (PPS) course, and a welcome back to any who have taken a break in studies and intend to complete the course this year.

I run this blog to link the material that you will be studying in the course to new research developments in the areas of protein structure and function and related aspects of biotechnology and medicine. I might, example, report on talks given in the ISMB seminar series run jointly by the Department of Biological Sciences at Birkbeck and research departments in neighbouring University College London. The programme for Autumn 2015 focuses on transcription, which is the process through which DNA is copied into RNA; this will be covered in some detail in one of the later sections of the course, the Protein Lifecycle. Other posts may be reports from conferences or summaries of recently published papers in protein structure, protein bioinformatics and allied areas. Look out for an account of a lecture to be given at Birkbeck in October by Venki Ramakrishnan, who was awarded a share of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2009 for structural studies of ribosomes and will shortly take over as President of the Royal Society.

Some posts on this blog are written by "guest blogger" Jill Faircloth, who took the MSc in Structural Molecular Biology a few years ago and is now working as a freelance science communicator. She introduces herself in this post written in March 2012, in which she also describes how she found the later part of the PPS course and her thoughts on the two choices available for the second year of the MSc.

Do, if you get a chance, look through some blog posts from earlier years to see the kind of topics that we will be discussing. However, don't be discouraged if at this stage of the course you find the science presented there difficult to understand. I can assure you that it will get easier!

I particularly recommend that you look at a couple of posts from December 2013 and July 2014 about the history of structural science, particularly X-ray crystallography. Crystallography was the first method to be developed for solving the structure of biological macromolecules, and it is still the most important. The year 2014 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Crystallography, marking the year between the centenaries of the publication of the first papers on X-ray diffraction and the award of the 1915 Nobel Prize for Physics to the father-and-son team of William and Lawrence Bragg who made the principal discoveries.

So - the best of luck for the 2015-16 PPS course and for your studies at Birkbeck! We hope that many of you will go on to complete our MSc in Structural Molecular Biology.

Best wishes,

Dr Clare Sansom Senior Associate Lecturer, Biological Sciences, Birkbeck and Tutor, Principles of Protein Structure

Welcome to PPS students 2014-15!

This post is extremely like those I have written at this time of year for the past few years. This is because what I have to say now is very, very similar...

I would like to offer a warm welcome to the Principles of Protein Structure blog to all students who have just started studying Birkbeck's Principles of Protein Structure course, and a welcome back to any who have taken a break in studies and intend to complete the course this year.

I run this blog to link the material that you will be studying in the course to new research developments in the areas of protein structure and function and related aspects of biotechnology and medicine. Throughout the taught course (but more often in the later part of the course) I will post reports of recent developments. I might, example, report on talks given in the ISMB seminar series run jointly by the Department of Biological Sciences at Birkbeck and research departments in neighbouring University College London. The overall title of the programme for Autumn 2014 is Synthetic Biology: an innovative and important topic that relates quite closely to some of the material we cover in the later sections of the course, particularly the sections on Bioinformatics and the Protein Lifecycle. Other posts may be reports from conferences or summaries of recently published papers in protein structure, protein bioinformatics and allied areas.

Some of the posts on this blog are written by "guest blogger" Jill Faircloth, who took the MSc in Structural Molecular Biology a few years ago and is now working as a freelance science communicator. She introduces herself in this post written in March 2012, in which she also describes how she found the later part of the PPS course and her thoughts on the two choices available for the second year of the MSc.

Do, if you get a chance, look through some of the earlier blog posts to see the kind of topics that we will be discussing. However, don't be discouraged if at this stage of the course you find the science presented there difficult to understand. I can assure you that it will get easier!

I particularly recommend that you look at a couple of posts from last academic year - December 2013 and July 2014 - about the history of structural science, particularly X-ray crystallography. Crystallography was the first method to be developed for solving the structure of biological macromolecules, and it is still the most important. The year 2014 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Crystallography, marking the year between the centenaries of the publication of the first papers on X-ray diffraction and the award of the 1915 Nobel Prize for Physics to the father-and-son team of William and Lawrence Bragg who made the principal discoveries. The International Year has been marked by a wide range of activities, special symposia, publications, "open labs" and even postage stamps, and there are still a few events planned.

So - the best of luck for the 2014-15 PPS course and for your studies at Birkbeck! We hope that many of you will go on to complete our MSc in Structural Molecular Biology.

Best wishes,

Dr Clare Sansom Senior Associate Lecturer, Biological Sciences, Birkbeck and Tutor, Principles of Protein Structure

Welcome to PPS students 2012-13!

This post is very like one I wrote at exactly this time last year. This is because what I have to say now is very, very similar...

I would like to offer a warm welcome to the Principles of Protein Structure blog to all students who have just started studying Birkbeck's Principles of Protein Structure course!

I run this blog to link the material that you will be studying in the course to new research developments in the areas of protein structure and function and related aspects of biotechnology and medicine. Throughout the taught course (but more often in the later part of the course) I will post reports of recent developments. I might, example, report on talks given in the ISMB seminar series run jointly by the Department of Biological Sciences at Birkbeck and research departments in neighbouring University College London. The overall title of the programme for Autumn 2012 is "Molecular Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration": a fascinating topic which relates quite closely to some of the material we cover in the later sections of the course. Other posts may be reports from conferences or summaries of recently published papers in protein structure, protein bioinformatics and allied areas.

Some of the posts on this blog are written by "guest blogger" Jill Faircloth, who took the MSc in Structural Molecular Biology a few years ago and is now working as a freelance science communicator. She introduces herself in this post written in March 2012, in which she also describes how she found the later part of the PPS course and her thoughts on the two choices available for the second year of the MSc.

Do, if you get a chance, look through some of the earlier blog posts to see the kind of topics that we will be discussing. However, don't be discouraged if at this stage of the course you find the science presented there difficult to understand. I can assure you that it will get easier!

And the best of luck for the 2012-13 PPS course and for your studies at Birkbeck! We hope that many of you will go on to complete our MSc in Structural Molecular Biology.

Best wishes,

Dr Clare Sansom
Senior Associate Lecturer, Biological Sciences, Birkbeck and Tutor, Principles of Protein Structure