Protein Crystallography (PX)

Completion of this Postgraduate Certificate will enable students to understand how structures are determined using protein crystallography, how the quality of coordinates should be judged, and how crystallographic papers should be assessed.

The course can be subdivided in to the following areas. For further details please see the PX syllabus.

Fundamentals of Protein Structure and X-Ray Crystallography

• Protein structure relevant to structure determination
• Fundamentals of x-ray diffraction
• Fundamentals of symmetry

Protein Crystallography

• The individual steps required to determine a protein structure using protein crystallography
• Skills for reading a crystallographic paper
• Skills to grasp and judge the quality of the structure reported
• Basic skills for solving a protein structure

Project

The objective for this unit is to apply, improve and test the skills learned in units 1 and 2 on two projects

• To read and judge a crystallographic paper
• To "solve" a structure using molecular replacement

Time required is typically 6 hours per week during term time. The programme is taught entirely via the Internet, using a range of innovative techniques including online tutorials. Protein structures are presented and manipulated using interactive graphics embedded in web pages.

All teaching is Internet-based. The course material is released on a dedicated, password protected website in twelve sections. Students interact with their tutors and fellow students through email lists, submit written assignments by email, and attend online tutorials in real time using a chat-room based interface. They also have access to the electronic journals available in the Birkbeck e-library.

One written paper (which may be taken at an exam centre close to you); and coursework.

There are some basic technical requirements for all our distance learning courses. All course correspondence will be electronically based. You will need:

• Regular access to a computer (PC, UNIX or Mac operating systems) capable of running forms and graphics browsers (e.g. Firefox, Netscape, MacWeb XEmacs, Mosaic).
• Reliable access to the internet.
• Some familiarity with installation of simple software packages and with transferring/downloading data.
• Familiarity with E-mail.

• PX may be taken as a stand-alone postgraduate certificate or as part of the School of Crystallography's innovative distance learning MSc in Structural Molecular Biology.
• Innovative use of the Internet providing flexible study patterns.
• Research Assessment Exercise grade 5A department