[QSAR] Short Course: Crystallography for Modelers, May 7 & 8, Piscataway, NJ

[List for Members of Cheminformatics and QSAR Society]

The RCSB PDB will host a short course for practicing pharmaceutical/  
biophysical modelers
looking for a better understanding of crystal
structures and PDB data.  The course will be held May 7 & 8 at
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in Piscataway, NJ.

Do you use protein crystal structure data? Ever wonder why things do
not work out as you expect? Are ligand strain energies unreasonably
high? Does your drug candidate not appear to make the hydrogen bonds
you expect? Is that really a water molecule in the corner of a
binding site? Do you wonder why a side chain is in one position
rather than another?

These questions all relate to the "quality" of the data you use. How
"good" are the protein structures that you use? What's the error in
atomic coordinates? How might you know if something is just plain wrong?

Crystallography for Modelers will address these issues and offer
insight into state-of-the-art research into the quality, errors, and
"gotchas" in crystal structure data. Designed by active users of the
data, the instructors are experts from RCSB PDB team members, Rutgers
researchers, and commercial software developers. It is not an
introductory course for crystallography or modeling, but rather a
down-and-dirty discussion of crystallographic data, precision,
accuracy, and possible errors.

Registration is for Day 1, Day 2 or both.  Day 2 will expand on Day 1
and offer an opportunity for hands-on learning.

Day 1: The process of crystal structure determination. Insight into
the workings of the PDB and how "PDB" files are generated. Detailed
examination of the extensive information (beyond coordinates)
available in data files and online, including ligand structures.
Proper interpretation of crystal structures, part one: accuracy,
precision, problems and errors (experimental, real, perceived).

Day 2:  Proper interpretation of crystal structures, part two: case
studies  with emphasis on ligand binding, position, conformation,
loops, and missing density. Software bridging modeling and
crystallography.  Hands-on exercises in the concepts of the course
with public and commerical software. Software vendor showcase.

To learn more and register: http://rate.rutgers.edu/?q=Crystallography

Both classes will take place at Rutgers' Busch Campus in Piscataway,
NJ, which is easily accessible by car, train, or air.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://server.ccl.net/pipermail/qsar_society/attachments/20090304/dea29a4a/attachment.html