Biological Structures Group (BSG) sessions at Reading 2001.

Plenary lectures on visualisation (Saturday 7th April, 2pm) include:

Looking at structure. Professor Rod. E. Hubbard (York)

BSG Session 1. How MAD can you get? (Sunday 8th April, 2pm)

Chair: Andrew Leslie (Cambridge).

This session will cover all experimental aspects of structure determination by the MAD method from selenomethionine expression to locating the sites as well as novel developments in the field such as the exploitation of the anomalous signal from biologically occurring elements.

2.00-2.30 pm, Expression of selenomethionyl-substituted proteins. Neil McDonald (ICRF/Birkbeck).

2.30-3.00 pm, Exploiting anomalous signal, experimental methods of phasing macromolecular structures: methods, pitfalls and perspectives. Sean McSweeney (EMBL/ESRF, Grenoble).

3.00-3.30 pm, Xenon and soft X-ray MAD. Pierre Rizkallah (Daresbury Laboratory).

3.30-4.00 pm, Coffee break.

4.00-4.30 pm, Methods for locating the anomalous scatterers in macromolecular structures. Thomas Schneider (Gottingen).

4.30-5.00 pm, Phasing on anomalous halides. Zbigniew Dauter (Brookhaven/Frederick, USA).

5.00-5.30 pm. SMC proteins and MAD: How bad can your crystals get? Jan Lowe (LMB Cambridge)

BSG Session 2. Stretching the limits - proteins at atomic resolution. (Monday 9th April, 9 am)

Chair: Jon Cooper (Southampton).

This session will look at atomic resolution studies of proteins both as a tool for solving new structures and for mechanistic studies of enzymes. Complementary developments in the neutron field will be covered.

9.00-9.45 am, High resolution data collection: optimising the chances. Elspeth Garman (Oxford).

9.45-10.30 am, Protein structures at atomic resolution. Keith Wilson (York).

10.30-11.00 am, Coffee break.

11.00-11.30 am, Protons in proteins: how to see hydrogen atoms at medium resolution. Dean Myles (EMBL/ILL, Grenoble).

11.30-12.00 am, Crystallography at subatomic resolution: the aldose reductase structure at 0.66 Angstrom resolution. Alberto Podjarny (Strasbourg).

12.00-12.30 pm, Enzymatic degradation of high-explosives at atomic resolution. Peter Moody (Leicester).

BSG Session 3. Hot structures (Monday 9th April, 1.30pm).

Chair: Richard Pauptit (Astra Zeneca).

1.30-1.50 pm, An unsuspected covalent intermediate in the epimerisation of carbohydrate reveals a new class of mechanism. James Naismith (St Andrews).

1.50-2.10 pm, Acetylcholine Binding Protein (AChBP), a homologue of the ligand-binding domain of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. Katjusa Brejc (Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam).

2.10-2.30 pm, Structure of a collagen- and perlecan-binding fragment of nidogen. Erhard Hohenester (Imperial, London).

2.30-2.50 pm, Two metal binding beta-jellyrolls: oxalate oxidase and auxin receptor. Eui-Jeon Woo (Queen Mary, London).

2.50-3.10 pm, Bifunctionality and the structure of mammalian sperm beta-acrosin. Becky Tranter (Bristol).

3.10-3.30 pm, Crystal structure of the Holliday junction-resolving enzyme T7 endonuclease I at 2.1 Angstroms resolution. Jonathan Hadden (Leeds)

BSG Poster Presentation Session. (Sunday 8th April, 11am)

All BSG poster presenters are encouraged with gentle arm-twisting to present a short talk involving no more than 1-2 overheads to convey the main points of their poster. We hope to have some prizes for presenters.

Also, The Bragg Lecture (Monday 9th April, 5pm).

Bragg reflections illuminate the structures of some perfidious viruses. Dave Stuart (Oxford).