Ben-Tal Lab

 Online Course
Introduction to proteins: structure, function, and motion 

This webpage includes freely downloadable videos and presentations based on the book.  
Please acknowledge the book when using the materials .

Chapter 1

Introduction

• What are macromolecules?

• Proteins' biological roles

• The structural base of protein function

• Non-covalent interactions

Chapter 2

Protein structure

• Amino acids properties

• The peptide bond

• Secondary structures

• Tertiary structure of globular proteins

• Structural evolution

• Quaternary structure

• Post-translational modifications

• Fibrous proteins

• Videos

• Presentation

Chapter 4

Energetics & Stability

• Proteins are marginally stable

• Thermodynamics of protein structure stability

• Physical forces and effects that stabilize or destabilize the folded structure

• Protein denaturation and adaptation to extreme environments

• Protein engineering for increased stability

• Videos

• Presentation

Chapter 5

Dynamics

• The importance of protein dynamics

• Types of motions in proteins and their biological roles

• Theoretical models of protein dynamics

• Thermodynamic and kinetic effects

• External effects on protein dynamics (e.g. ligand binding)

• Protein folding and misfolding

• Videos

• Presentation

Chapter 7
Membrane Proteins

• Biological roles

• The lipid bilayer environment

• Integral membrane proteins: structure, composition & energetics

• Peripheral membrane proteins

• Effects of membrane properties and lipids on bound proteins

• G protein-coupled receptors: structure-function relationships

Chapter 8
Protein-Ligand Interactions

• Biological importance

• Binding affinity: measurements, calculations, and thermodynamics

• Binding specificity: models, interactions, binding promiscuity

• Case study: cholinesterase inhibition by toxins and drugs

• Protein-ligand interactions in drug design

Tel-Aviv University course version (videos by lesson)

Chapter 3

Structure Prediction

• Why predict protein structure?

• General apporaches for structure prediction

• The physical approach: explicit and mean-field models

• The comparative approach: homology modeling and fold recognition

• Integrative methods

• Experimentally guided prediction

• Prediction based on co-evolution

Chapter 6
Disordered Proteins

• Prevalence & degrees of disorder

• Biological roles

• Methods for studying these proteins

• Specific functions and mechanisms

• Example: the nuclear pore complex

• Structure-function relationships