STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY AND DRUG DISCOVERY

Dear Reader, A multi-disciplinary approach, based on biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, covers broadly the field of structural biology. The study of and research in structural biology helps us to understand protein-protein interactions in cells, observe conformational changes in 3D-structures as well as identify active sites or functional domains. As a result, structure-based drug design and lead optimisation become more specific, target identification gets less complicated and resistance to existing drugs can be understood better. Thanks to a variety of modern analytical techniques available now, such as hydrogen deuterium exchange mass spectroscopy, single crystal X-ray diffraction, super-resolution confocal microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, it is possible to visualise and understand processes occurring at the cellular and sub-cellular levels more intensively. However, this is a far cry from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when path-breaking discoveries were more the result of an universal education system, where students could study subjects of their choice and interpret observations in a holistic manner.