Molecular Recognition in Biological Systems

* Molecular interaction mechanisms and forces between molecules: selectivity, affinity, kinetics and thermodynamics. The effect of the environment on interactions * Structure and dynamics of biomacromolecules and their complexes: selectivity, multivalency, avidity. Various types of biomolecular interactions: protein-ligand, protein-protein, DNA-protein, RNA-protein. Inhibition of interactions * Applications: design of ligands, modification of proteins and nucleic acids to alter their interactions with other macromolecules or ligands * Biological, biochemical and biophysical methods for the identification and characterisation of molecular interactions * Modelling of interactions by molecular graphics and structural information * Examples of how biological systems can be described in terms of the molecular interactions involved * Application of molecular interaction analysis in life science research, drug discovery and diagnostics