CEITEC and state of the art European infrastructures

28. Apr. 2010

The representatives of Central European Institute of Technology participated at an annual meeting of the INSTRUCT initiative (an Integrated Structural Biology Infrastructure for Europe), which is a part of ESFRI (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures) in Hamburg.  The construction of a new centre for integrated structural biology, which is planned within the project, will significantly strengthen the position of CEITEC in the European context and its involvement in the European scientific-research activities.

In the forthcoming years, the state of the art equipment for X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy (nuclear magnetic resonance), cryo-electron microscopy and tomography, and complex studies of bimolecular interactions will be installed as a part of the Structural Biology programme of CEITEC. This equipment will represent a significant contribution to the network of European research infrastructures. It will be used by researchers from both the Czech Republic and other European countries, as well as by commercial users. Availability of these state of the art technologies and their integration in European networks were discussed at the INSTRUCT annual meeting in Hamburg by Prof. Vladimír Sklenář, the coordinator of the research programme of Structural Biology and Ing. Ondřej Hradil, the Deputy Project Director

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
ESFRI, European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures, is a strategic instrument for strengthening the integration of Europe in the field of research and its international cooperation. 

The mission of ESFRI is to support a coherent and strategy-led approach to policy-making on research infrastructures in Europe, and to facilitate multilateral initiatives leading to the better use and development of research infrastructures, at EU and international level. ESFRI was formed in 2002 at the behest of the European Council. They meet four times annually in Brussels and in the country which chairs the EU Council.

ESFRI has created and published Roadmaps which include priority projects of research infrastructures.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Based on NMR spectroscopy it is possible to determine the constitution and structure of molecules of the explored substances as well as their quantity. By means of modern methods of NMR spectroscopy it is possible to discover space structure of minor proteins too, similar to the means of X-ray structural analysis.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––