Molecular Biophysics (PHYS*4540)

Code and section: PHYS*4540*01

Term: Winter 2018

Instructor: Vladimir Ladizhansky

Details

Course Information

Instruction

Lecturer Office Extension Email
Vladimir Ladizhansky SSC 1251 53989 vladizha@uoguelph.ca

Course Topics

  • Protein structure. Nucleic acids structure. Factors determining protein and nucleic acid structures. Protein Stability. Biomembranes. Membrane proteins and their functions. Membrane transport. Evolution and Protein Folding. Human perspective: conformational diseases.
  • Various topics in structural biology and biophysics of proteins. (Students’ presentations)
  • Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and high resolution structure determination in biomolecules. Fundamentals of the NMR. Multidimensional NMR spectroscopy. Brief Introduction into NMR-based structure determination. Spectral Assignments. Determination of structural constraints. NOE effect. Constraint-based calculation of structure. Solid-state NMR and protein structure determination.
  • Applications of NMR to various problems in structural biophysics. (Students' presentations)

Evaluation

Assessment Weight
Participation in discussions 5%
Assignments 25%
Presentations
Students will be asked to give two presentations
40%
Papers/Projects
Students will have to write a research proposal based on one of their presentations.
30%

Course Materials

Textbooks

  • Lodish et al, “Molecular Cell Biology” 5th edition
  • Charles R. Cantor and Paul R. Schimmel: “Biophysical chemistry” part I: The conformation of biological molecules.
  • Additional literature (papers, lecture notes, links to online materials, etc.) will be distributed.

Recommended Literature

  • Thomas E. Creighton, “Proteins: Structure and Molecular Properties”
  • Karp, “Cell and Molecular Biology”
  • Voet and Voet, “Biochemistry”
  • Stryer, “Biochemistry”
  • Alberts, "Molecular Biology of the Cell"

Course Policies

Academic Misconduct

The University of Guelph takes a serious view of academic misconduct and will severely penalize students, faculty and staff who are found guilty of offenses associated with misappropriation of others' work, misrepresentation of personal performance and fraud, improper access to scholarly resources, and obstructing others in pursuit of their academic endeavours. Each student is assumed to be familiar with the regulations surrounding academic misconducts, as spelled out in the Undergraduate Calendar.