Introduction to Protein Structure: From Disease to Therapy

Proteins are involved in almost every physiological process that occurs within the body. They are necessary for countless metabolic processes, including converting glucose into energy, carrying oxygen in your blood, and recognizing and destroying foreign pathogens. Knowing the structure of the proteins that perform these essential functions is paramount to understanding how they work normally and why mutations lead to disease. Although proteins are involved in innumerable diseases, they may also be key in the development of therapeutic treatments. By understanding protein structure, scientists can design small molecules and even novel proteins that can treat a variety of diseases. This course provides an introduction to protein and nucleic acid structure as it relates to the essential functions that these macromolecules perform within cells. Lectures focus on how protein structure relates to a variety of common human pathologies and on the therapies that are used to treat these diseases.