Structural biologists build 3D models of the molecular structure of proteins, nucleic acids and complex assemblies. For scientists, these models provide the foundation through which ideas are explicated and new hypotheses developed. For society, they are the foundation on which solutions to numerous challenges are built, including green enzymes and drug development.
To build these models, structural biologists use a wide range of methods including X-ray crystallography, neutron crystallography, electron microscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, single-molecule fluorescence techniques and computation, among others. What’s more, ground-breaking structural biology increasingly relies on the integration of multiple experimental methods as this makes it possible to study large, complex and dynamic molecules.
Structural biologists therefore require access to a huge range of state-of-the-art infrastructures. Junior researchers should be able to understand, use, and interpret data from several different techniques and to integrate them via computational methods. Senior researchers must develop strong networks and keep abreast of near-constant methodological developments within many fields. It is therefore essential to foster a scientific ecosystem that can provide easy access to know-how, infrastructures, and collaborative networks and to create mechanisms through which junior researchers can move freely between groups so that they can learn new techniques and conduct experiments using facilities not available in their labs.
Through collaboration between 27 Nordic universities and research institutions, NORDSTRUCT will strengthen structural biology in the Nordic region by establishing formal mechanisms that will increase access to the equipment necessary for structural biology research, drive regional mobility, create channels for interdisciplinary knowledge-sharing amongst researchers and infrastructure staff, develop much-needed capacity in the most recent technical advances and create platforms that push forward methodological developments and establish the Nordic region as a lighthouse of innovation within structural biology.
