Structural and Computational Biology
Peer Bork
Joint Head of Unit and Senior Scientist
Our unit pursues an ambitious research programme with a strong basis in integrated structural systems biology and a far-reaching computational component that bridges into various areas of biology. A wide spectrum of expertise allows the unit to tackle problems at different ranges of spatial resolution, connecting atomic structures and dynamic information obtained by X-ray crystallography and NMR with medium-range resolution from single particle electron microscopy, and cellular imaging obtained by electron tomography and light microscopy. Biochemistry, chemical biology and single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy complement the structural biology activities and, together with a wide range of innovative computational biology activities, integrate them into a comprehensive description of biological function.
Christoph Müller
Joint Head of Unit
Within the unit, there is a continuing interplay between groups with expertise in different methodologies, reflecting the belief that a combination of structural and functional studies is the most rewarding route to an understanding of the molecular basis of biological function, and that computational biology is essential to integrate the variety of tools and heterogeneous data into a comprehensive spatial and temporal description of biological processes. In this way, groups in the Structural and Computational Biology Unit pursue a few common large projects. One example is the comprehensive structural and temporal description of an entire cell at almost molecular resolution. It goes hand in hand with the application of and integration of various ‘omics’ approaches to the small bacterium Mycoplasma pneumoniae, by characterising its dynamic protein organisation and merging this molecular information to cellular, high-resolution tomograms. An example for structural systems biology is the analysis of a thermophilic fungus where combined experimental and computational approaches enable insight into eukaryotic thermophily at the molecular, cellular and organismal level.
Currently, the unit consists of twelve research groups with broad methodological expertise. It covers electron microscopy (three groups), X-ray crystallography (two groups), NMR (one group), chemical biology (two groups) and computational biology (four groups). In addition, two groups based in different units have shared appointments with the unit (the Ladurner group, Genome Biology) and the Nédélec group, Cell Biology).
The unit is very well equipped for experimental and computational work. Experimental facilities include a rotating anode and image plate detector for the collection of X-ray diffraction data, crystallisation robot and automated crystal visualisation, 800 MHz, 600 MHz and 500 MHz NMR spectrometers, several transmission electron microscopes including a recently purchased high-throughput Titan Krios microscope for single particle cryo-electron microscopy and cryo-electron tomography. The unit also has facilities for single-molecule light microscopy, isothermal calorimetry, circular dichroism, static and dynamic light scattering and analytical ultracentrifugation, as well as for large scale growth of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. The computing environment offers access to about 3000 CPU cores whereby large central clusters and separate workstations are conveniently networked.
Peer Bork and Christoph Müller
Joint Heads of the Structural and Computational Biology Unit
| Structural Biology Research Groups | Barabas Group | Mechanism of DNA recombination and its applications for research and therapy |
| Beck Group | Structure and function of large macromolecular assemblies | |
| Briggs Group | Enveloped viruses and coated vesicles – cryo-electron microscopy and tomograph | |
| Carlomagno Group | Functional mechanisms of complex enzymes involved in RNA metabolism and methodology development for drug design | |
| Gavin Group | Biomolecular networks | |
| Lemke Group | Structural light microscopy - single molecule spectroscopy | |
| Müller Group | Molecular mechanisms of transcriptional regulation and epigenetics | |
| Sachse Group | Single-particle electron cryo-microscopy of the machinery involved in abnormal protein aggregation | |
| Computational Biology Research Groups | Bork Group | Deciphering function and evolution of biological systems |
| Gibson Team | Biological sequence analysis | |
| Patil Group | Architecture and regulation of metabolic networks | |
| Schneider (Reinhard) Team | Data integration and knowledge management |