The workshop will cover theory and hands-on practical work, the latter including tutorials and the students’ own data processing. The course will focus on X-ray crystallography as a powerful method to determine 3D structures of macromolecules, with emphasis on diffraction data processing and map interpretation/model refinement. Along the process, from target selection to crystallographic refinement, state-of-the-art computational approaches will be presented and used. The combination will showcase its power to evaluate structure quality and to analyze the models with a Biological Perspective. Theory and practice of modern prediction algorithms (machine learning/deep learning, large language models) will be included, as well as an introduction to molecular dynamics simulation techniques.

The workshop is conceived for 20-25 attendees: advanced graduate students, postdocs and young researchers working in Structural Biology, Protein Science and related areas. Students that bring their own data (X-ray diffraction data, and/or actual novel protein structures to analyze) will be given priority. The workshop will be full-time. Students will be allocated with individual personal computers and all needed software will be pre-installed and ready to use. The course will be open for applications from any country, although priority will be given to applications from Latin American students.

We will count with the contribution of renowned researchers in the experimental and computational fields, to learn the theoretical bases of their methods, and to be guided through in-depth tutorials about their latest software.

A common thread along the course will be the interest into study cases and practical application of Structural Biology for biomedical purposes: molecular bases of health and disease, protein engineering with medical impact (modern vaccine design, drug discovery, molecular diagnostics).