MCB65/MCB260: Physical Biochemistry: Understanding Macromolecular Machines

This course develops your understanding of fundamental biochemistry concepts and how they are applied in cutting-edge structural and molecular biology research. You will learn about protein and nucleic acid structure, thermodynamics, kinetics, and intermolecular interactions while exploring techniques like cryo-electron microscopy, AlphaFold protein structure prediction, molecular dynamics, and protein design with Rosetta. The course emphasizes the application of these concepts to cell signaling, metabolism and drug-target interactions using interactive lectures and weekly sections.  As part of section, students will undertake a discovery-based laboratory research project in which they will apply these course concepts toward understanding the structure and function of the ATPase domain of a transporter protein associated with antigen processing.