About the Course

This advanced course provides an opportunity for graduate students, post-docs and junior faculty to interact with an outstanding panel of speakers, all of whom are experts in their field. Over four days our speakers will provide a refresher on the traditional approaches to the study of enzymes, introduce you to modern approaches, and show you the variety of directions the field is headed.

The traditional approaches will include:

• Generating and interpreting data using steady-state and transient kinetic methods.
• Kinetic isotope effects.
• Mechanisms of enzyme inhibition.

Modern approaches will include:

• The use of structural and biophysical techniques to study enzyme mechanism and dynamics.
• Computational enzymology.
• Chemoproteomics in enzyme and drug action.

Future directions:

• Discovery of new enzyme activities.
• In silico enzyme evolution.
• Directed evolution of artificial enzymes.
• Biocatalysis, process development and the bioeconomy.

Lectures will be presented in the mornings. They will be followed, after lunch, by facilitated small group discussions including, where appropriate, demonstrations and simulations. Participants will be encouraged to present posters in the late afternoon sessions, and to take the opportunity for individual discussions with the speakers, who will be available throughout the course.

Before the closing lecture, there will be a panel discussion with representatives of academia and industry providing their perspectives and predictions on what the future holds for careers in enzymological research and development.

The course will conclude with a dinner at “Al Pompiere”, a traditional Roman restaurant located in a historical building in the heart of Rome, and the award of poster prizes