Lead

Director: Winfried WEISSENHORN, Professor University Grenoble Alpes Deputy Directors: Cécile BREYTON, CNRS Research Director Martin BLACKLEDGE, CEA Research Director

Presentation

The IBS is an internationally recognized research center in the field of integrated structural biology. Our institute explores the structure and dynamics of proteins and other biological macromolecules to understand how they function at the atomic level and in a cellular environment.
Biological phenomena - such as host cell defenses against infection, membrane transport, molecular mechanisms of cancer, adaptation of molecules to extreme environments, DNA repair, epigenetic regulation and programmed cell death - are highly complex. To understand these and other fundamental cellular processes, we aim to obtain an accurate description of the biological molecules involved by studying their structure, dynamics and interactions with molecular partners and by elucidating the relationship between their structure and function.
Current challenges in structural biology include the structure determination of large macromolecular assemblies and the understanding of protein dynamics within such assemblies or in a cellular environment. Such challenges require a multidisciplinary approach at the interface of biology, physics and chemistry, as well as powerful instruments and methods of analysis spanning different resolution scales, available at the institute or nearby. Establishing multidisciplinary collaborative networks is also critical for the success of our research.