Organizer: M. Mapelli (IEO) & A. Casanal (HT) - Dates: 24-28 November 2025
Format: in-person only course
Location: Human Technopole, Milan
The course is meant to illustrate the basic principles of various techniques used in fore-front integrative structural biology approaches, including cryo-electron microscopy and tomography, crystallography, NMR, Mass-Spec Cross-Linking and Alpha-Fold. The topics will be introduced by lectures given by SEMM faculty members and external speakers, complemented with several hands-on tutorials in which the students will familiarize with software and instrumentation.
Crystallization theory and practical
Sebastiano Pasqualato (HT) & Luigi Scietti (IEO)
Basis of crystallography
Marina Mapelli,
IEO
Pymol tutorial
Sebastiano Pasqualato (HT) & Luigi Scietti (IEO)
Structure based drug design
Claudio Ciferri,
Genentech, San Francisco, US [remote]
Principles of Cryo-EM SPA
Francesca Coscia,
Human Technopole
Anatomy of the microscopes and sample preparation
Paolo Swuec,
Human Technopole
Challenges of a SPA project
Claudio Alfieri,
ICR, London, UK [remote]
Working with Cryo-EM microscopes
Paolo Swuec
Human Technopole
Visit to microscopes
Negative staining tutorial
Students will be divided into 2 groups which will alternate for the microscopes’ visit and negative staining tutorial
Model building tutorial: Coot for model building and structure interpretation of cryoEM maps
Principles of NMR
Giovanna Musco,
San Raffaele Institute
Mass Spectrometry for Structural Biology: XL-MS
Andrea Graziadei,
Human Technopole
Principles of Alpha-fold
Andrea Graziadei,
Human Technopole
Alpha-fold tutorial
Michelangelo Lassandro and Alessio Di Ianni,
Human Technopole
Principles of Cryo-ET: sample prep and theory
Philipp Erdmann,
Human Technopole
CLEM: correlative light and electron microscopy
Pedro Pereira Machado and Elisa Chen,
Human Technopole
Solist: Biopsie at the nanoscale
Gaia Perone,
Human Technopole
A cryo-ET and cell biology story
Giulia Zanetti,
Crick, London, UK
Cryo-ET workshop and tutorial
Philipp Erdmann,
Human Technopole
Visual Communication in Biology
Margot Riggi,
MPI Martinsried, Germany [remote]
Blender
Davide Rambaldi,
Human Technopole
Time for students to work together
Students’ presentation
Ana Casañal (HT) & Marina Mapelli (IEO)