4th US_Canada Winter School on Biomolecular Solid State NMR

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

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Abstract

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In the past 10-15 years, solid state NMR (SSNMR) has emerged as a technique that yields important structural data on systems not amenable to examination with either X-ray diffraction or solution NMR, presently the two pillars of structural biology. In particular, SSNMR experiments have recently produced the first experimentally determined structures of amyloid fibrils, which have been resistant to detailed investigation by other techniques because they are insoluble and do not crystallize in their biologically relevant state. Similar statements are applicable to membrane proteins. These recent successes are a result of fundamental and practical improvements in spectroscopic and sample preparation methods. Concurrently, technology emerging from developments in SSNMR, for example Average Hamiltonian Theory, has influenced other areas of research such as solution NMR and magnetic resonance imaging. Finally, the renaissance in sensitivity enhancement via dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) originally intended for SSNMR experiments is finding wide application in solution NMR and imaging and is further integrating high field electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and NMR into a single manifold. In order to rapidly propagate these advances to the scientific community we propose to hold the 4th Winter School on Biomolecular Solid State NMR in Stowe, VT January 10-15, 2016 with the aim of developing the workforce for this flourishing scientific area. The principal component of this school will be a series of lectures on fundamental and advanced topics by leading researchers in the field. Topics will include basic aspects of the mathematical theory of modern SSNMR, assessment of practical advantages of specific state-of-the-art experimental techniques, methods for preparation of isotopically labeled proteins and peptides, data processing and numerical simulation, the development of structural models from SSNMR data, etc. The lectures will be supplemented by problem sets and hands-on demonstrations of software (SPINEVOLUTION, SIMPSON, GAMMA, etc.) currently used to simulate pulsed NMR experiments important for biological solids. Attendance at this school will train new graduate and postdoctoral students in the broad spectrum of essential techniques and concepts, greatly enhancing the expertise they would otherwise obtain through specific research projects in their own research groups. This is the 4th SSNMR school and is being organized in response to the very positive feedback that we received from the students and postdoctorals that attended the 1st, 2nd and 3rd schools in January 2008, 2010 and 2013. As a result we believe the Winter School an extremely important pedagogical event for the blossoming biological NMR community, and differs significantly from the plethora of other meetings on the calendar.