NATJEČAJ za dodjelu stipendija u suradnji s Gradom Splitom

Kriteriji dodjele sredstava su:
• izvrsnost učenika i studenata (natprosječne ocjene, sudjelovanje u znanstvenim projektima i programima)
• područje studija mora biti kompatibilno sa područjima znanstvenih projekata MedILS-a
• student/primatelj stipendije mora biti spreman raditi svoj završni/doktorski rad na projektu MedILS-a tijekom trajanja stipendije
Pravo na dodjelu stipendije imaju:
a) Studenti/ce na sveučilišnom diplomskom ili integriranom studiju koji nisu stariji od 25 godina:
• ako nisu, osim iz opravdanih razloga, ponavljali godinu studija
• ako imaju prosjek ocjena u dosadašnjem studiju od najmanje 4,0
b) Polaznici/e doktorskih studija ili osobe sa završenim diplomskim ili integriranim sveučilišnim studijem koji nisu stariji od 35 godina:
• ako su na diplomskom ili integriranom sveučilišnom studiju imali prosjek od najmanje 4,0
• ako dobro poznaju engleski jezik, do te mjere da se mogu uspješno služiti stručnom i znanstvenom literaturom
• ako su pokazali izvrsnost tijekom studija i u znanstvenoistraživačkom radu
Prijave za natječaj primaju se i rješavaju se dok se ne ispuni financijska kvota određena za dodjelu stipendija za tekuću godinu.
Prijavi se prilažu dokazi o ispunjavanju traženih uvjeta natječaja.

Potrebni dokumenti su:
• životopis
• potvrda o upisu na fakultet (za studente)
• prijepis ocjena u dosadašnjem studiju
• potvrde o osvojenim nagradama
• potvrde sudjelovanja u znanstvenoistraživačkim projektima
• motivacijsko pismo
• pismo preporuke mentora ili profesora
Nepotpune prijave neće se uzimati u razmatranje. Odluka o dodjeli sredstava bit će objavljena na internetskoj stranici Instituta u roku 8 dana od usvajanja odluke Povjerenstva.
Natječajnu dokumentaciju pošaljite na
e-mail:medils@medils.hr
ili na adresu:
MedILS
„Za dodjelu stipendije“
Meštrovićevo šetalište bb
21000 Split

Tekst Natječaja
Pravilnik

Principal organizer:
Professor Davor Juretić
Physics Department, Faculty of Science,
University of Split, Nikole Tesle 12, 21000 Split, Croatia
Telephone: +385 21 385 133
Fax: +385 21 385 431
Email: juretic@pmfst.hr

Australian co-organizer:
Professor Frances Separovic
School of Chemistry, Bio21 Institute
University of Melbourne, VIC 3010 Australia
Phone: +61 3 8344 2447 or 6492
Fax: +61 3 9347 8189 or 5180
Email: fs@unimelb.edu.au

Note: the official workshop webpage is http://split4.pmfst.hr/konferencija/

The workshop will be held at the Mediterranean Institute for Life Sciences (MedILS) in Split, Croatia, 9-13 Aug 2010, and is organized by the University of Split, Faculty of Science, in participation with MedILS. Together with several other local institutions, the two have recently established an international PhD programme in biophysics at the University of Split. The workshop is an official summer school for the students in the programme, with additional wider participation. There are several groups in Split working on antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), and we have put together a program with lecturers primarily from Australia and Croatia. Croatia’s has strength in theoretical approaches to modelling structure, activity and selectivity of AMPs, while Australian expertise is
focused on isolation, synthesis and structure/activity measurements of AMPs. The workshop will bring together experimentalists and theoreticians interested in understanding the mechanism of action of AMPs and their possible applications as peptide antibiotics.

The workshop is not limited to Australian and Croatian researchers, but will be open to researchers and post-graduate students from other countries and has broad scope with respect to included research topics. This can be seen from preliminary list of invited researchers who have confirmed their participation and offered titles for their contributions as detailed in (6) below.

The participants include at least 7 senior scientists from each side, 4 Australian PhD students and 8 Croatian PhD students in biophysics or 26 confirmed participants and an additional 14 registrants to be accommodated, i.e., a total of 40 participants.

The participation of postdoctoral fellows and PhD students has been ensured on both sides so that tutorials on experimental and theoretical techniques will be an obligatory part of the workshop. The invited lecturers would each give 2 x 45 min lectures and a 45 min tutorial, plus a student poster session (2 hrs) and presentations by early career researchers (2 hrs), which would come to 4.5 days of formal program. In addition a free afternoon has been planned.

This one week workshop focused on a single topic will bring together an interdisciplinary group of researchers primarily from the two countries which would not only strengthen their biophysics programs but is more likely to lead to close and long term collaboration. The program will be evaluated through course questionnaires for both the students and the lecturers. Assessment of students will be on the basis of a short (5-10 min) oral presentation on their poster for which student prizes will be awarded.

The following invited speakers have agreed to participate; the subject of their presentations is also included:

Prof Mibel Aguilar, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Monash University: Membrane active peptides and peptidomimetics for drug development
Prof Vlasta Bonačić-Koutecky, Department of Chemistry, Humboldt University: Noble metal cluster chromophores: Absorption, enhancement and conformational control of peptides
Prof David Craik, Institute for Biomolecular Sciences, University of Queensland: NMR and protein structure in drug design
Prof Renato Gennaro, Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste: Structure/activity relationship and mode of action of Bac7, a Pro-rich antibacterial peptide
Prof Ante Graovac, Faculty of Science, University of Split and R. Bošković Institute, Applications of novel carbon nanostructures in biology and medicine
Prof Davor Juretić, Physics, University of Split: Design of novel peptide antibiotics
Prof Alan Mark, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, University of Queensland: Antimicrobial peptide insertion and assembly - insights from atomisticsimulations
Dr Lisa Martin, Chemistry, Monash University: Interfacial chemistry of antimicrobial peptides and model membranes
Prof Frances Separovic, Chemistry, University of Melbourne: Membrane activity of antimicrobial peptides
Dr David Smith, Centre for Computational Solutions in the Life Sciences, Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Molecular dynamics studies on natural and non-natural opioid peptides
Assoc Prof Damir Vukičević, Mathematics, University of Split: Algorithm for the design of novel highly-selective peptide antibiotics
Prof John Wade, Peptide Laboratory, Howard Florey Institute: Design and development of novel antibacterial peptides
Prof Irene Yarovsky, Applied Sciences, RMIT University: Molecular dynamics of peptide-surface interactions
Dr Bojan Žagrović, MedILS: Computational biophysics of macromolecules

The support of the Biophysical Society of USA, European Biophysics Societies’ Association, Australian Peptide Association, Australian Society for Biophysics and European Peptide Society is gratefully acknowledged.

Sponsor logos:

prof. dr. Wilfred F. van Gunsteren

Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH, 8093 Zuerich, Switzerland

Computer simulation of the dynamics of biomolecular systems by the molecular dynamics technique yields the possibility of describing structure-energy-function relationships of molecular processes in terms of interactions at the atomic level. This is one of the reasons why computation based on molecular models is playing an increasingly important role in biology, biological chemistry, and biophysics. Since only a very limited number of properties of biomolecular systems is actually accessible to measurement by experimental means, computer simulation can complement experiment by providing not only averages, but also distributions and time series of any definable – observable or non-observable – quantity, for example conformational distributions or interactions between parts of molecular systems. Present day biomolecular modelling is limited in its application by four main problems: 1) the force-field problem, 2) the search (sampling) problem, 3) the ensemble (sampling) problem, and 4) the experimental problem. These problems, or rather challenges, will be discussed and in particular the pitfalls of comparing simulated with measured data will be illustrated using different examples. Perspectives will be outlined for pushing forward the limitations of computational modelling of biomolecular systems.

�
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 45 (2006) 4064 – 4092
Biochem. Soc. Trans. 36 (2008) 11-15
Curr. Opin. Struct. Biology 18 (2008) 149-153

www.igc.ethz.ch�

Boris Kablar, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Dalhousie University
School of Medicine
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology
5850 College Street
Halifax, NS B3H 1X5
Canada

Since July 2000, the members of the Mouse Models of Human Diseases Laboratory have been able to study the role of muscle in the epigenetic shaping of developing tissues and organs employing an approach based on mouse mutagenesis and pathology. Muscle tissue is one of the four basic tissue types that the body is consisted of. There are three types of muscle tissue and we are interested in one of them, the skeletal or striated muscle. We can study the developmental role of muscle in the whole mouse embryo or fetus, because it is enough to knock out two myogenic regulatory factors (MRFs), Myf5 and MyoD, to obtain an embryo without any skeletal musculature. Obviously, such a fetus cannot survive after birth, but it is viable as long as it is in the womb.

Even though it is understandable that the muscle may have numerous functions during development, we think of muscle as either an executor of various movements or as a provider of neurotrophic factors. Therefore, I will concentrate on the description of two major research programs performed in this laboratory:

The first one, also known as developmental morphodynamics, deals with studies that examine the ability of muscle to provide mechanical cues for organogenesis. In this program, we are trying to understand mechanical control of tissue morphogenesis during development. In fact, the analysis of Myf5:MyoD compound nulls reveals that several organs have difficulties to fully develop in the absence of the musculature. Organs that depend on continuity between pre- and post-natal motility are: lung, retina, inner ear and some parts of the skeleton (e.g., mandible, clavicle, sternum and palate). Diseases or phenomena that are modeled in this research program include: pulmonary hypoplasia, motion vision, angular acceleration, cleft palate and sternum, temporomandibular and acromioclavicular joint agenesis.

The second research program is composed of experiments that test the neurotrophic hypothesis. In this program, we are trying to find out if there is a muscle-provided trigger of motor neuron death ultimately relevant to the motor neuron diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The main reason for this kind of thinking is the fact that a complete absence of lower and upper motor neurons, which is the pathological definition of ALS, is only achieved in the complete absence of the muscle.

Mutual embryonic inductive interactions between different tissue types and organs, between individual cell types belonging to the same or different lineages, and between various kinds of molecular players, are only some examples of the complex machinery that operates to connect genotype and phenotype. Our studies so far indicate that some aspects of this interplay can indeed be studied as proposed, confirming the role of skeletal muscle contractile and secretory activity in the epigenetic shaping of organs, tissues and cell fate choices. We will continue this analysis to gain more insight into the nature of the epigenetic events that lead into the emergent properties of a phenotype.

Princezu Annu kroz laboratorije Mediteranskog instituta za istraživanje života rproveo je dr. sc. Bojan Žagrović, voditelj Laboratorija za računarsku biofiziku. Tom su prilikom Princezi predstavljeni uspjesi laboratorija za istraživanje biologije tumora te laboratorija računarske biofizike u kojima su studenti iz nekoliko različitih zemalja pokazali detalje iz svojih svakodnevih znanstvenih istraživanja.

Princeza se susrela i s Upravom MedILS-a - dr. sc. Marijom Alačević, osnivačicom MedILS-a te Brankom Roglićem, predsjednikom Upravnog vijeća MedILS-a. U velikoj dvorani Mediteranskog instituta za istraživanje života princezu je dočekalo 30-tak znanstvenika, donatora te osoblje koji su joj zahvalili na posjeti i ukazanom povjerenju.

«Posjet princeze Anne ima veliku vrijednost za MedILS, jer je time ona prepoznala MedILS kao centar izvrsnosti u nastajanju.  U sklopu njenog posjeta, dobili smo priliku predstaviti dosadašnje rezultate naših znanstvenika, način na koji se financiramo te je upoznati s budućim planovima razvoja Instituta. Interes princeze Anne za bazičnu znanost dokaz je važnosti i značaja koju znanost ima u današnjem svijetu», istaknuo je dr. sc. Bojan Žagrović, voditelj znanstvene grupe Računarska biofizika makromolekula.

Gastronomska ponuda MedILS-a za vrijeme posjeta uključivala je delicije mediteranske kuhinje – agrume, domaće vino, pršut, sir, zapečene školjke sa škampima, soparnik, domaći kolači i dr.

Na kraju posjeta, osoblje MedILS-a darovalo je Princezi Anni tradicionalni splitski kolač – Dioklecijanov vijenac nastao u kućnoj radinosti jedne splitske obitelji. Kolač je specifičan po tome što je napravljen od autohtonih sastojaka (smokve, badem, rogač, med, agrumi i dr.) i na identičan način kao što su se radili kolači u doba Dioklecijana. Kolač je u potpunosti plod naših težaka, a napravljen je na bazi domaćeg maslinovog ulja.  

Za dodatne informacije, molimo Vas da nam se javite na medils@medils.hr ili na broj telefona: 021/ 555 600.

Prva rasprava će se održati u maloj predavaoni na MedILS-u (Meštrovićevo šetalište bb, Split) u petak, 19. prosinca u 17 sati i bit će fokusirana na sve probleme i ograničenja vezane uz stvaranje umjetne stanice. Sintetičke, samoodržive funkcionalne jedinice sa sposobnošću udvostručavanja.

Rasprava će biti će popraćena malom neformalnom zakuskom.

Srdačan pozdrav,

MedILS

Natural substances may interact with numerous target proteins in human cells. For the flavonoid quercetin a method has been developed which allows the identification of unknown target proteins. The target proteins that have been of particular interest to us include the cytoskeletal proteins actin and tubulin and their associated motor proteins. New inhibitors for these proteins have been identified and the effect of the inhibitors studied in various cellular test systems. Possible medical applications will be discussed.

Atypical ubiquitin chains: new molecular signals

Ubiquitin docking at the proteasome through a novel pleckstrin-homology domain interaction