Instruct-ERIC
Instruct-ERIC
Instruct-ERIC (Integrated Structural Biology Infrastructure) is European research infrastructure, granting access to scientists from member countries to necessary equipment, technologies and expertise in structural biology.
Instruct-ERIC also organizes courses and workshops in structural biology methods and technologies, supports internships in Instruct-ERIC centres, grants pilot-projects for young researchers, organizes scientific conferences and acts as a joint hub for structural biologists in Europe.
At the moment there are 13 countries and 9 Centres in Instruct-ERIC. Instruct-ERIC Centres organize and support access to national structural biology infrastructure and take part in other Instruct-ERIC activities.
Latvian national contact point and its organizations
At the moment in Latvia there are two organizations in which significant research in structural biology field are carried out – Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre (LBMC) and Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis (LIOS).
Short description of LBMC structural biology group:
- Published papers in SCOPUS during last 5 years – 48
- Main areas of research:
- Structural investigations of ssRNA phages and applications of their virus-like particles in vaccine development
- Structural investigations of Borrelia surface proteins
- Structural investigations of pharmacologically relevant proteins:
- Structural investigations of enzymes and their microcompartments, involved in trimethylamine metabolism
- Structural investigations of carbonic anhydrases
Short description of NMR group of LIOS:
- Published papers in SCOPUS during last 5 years – 24
- Main areas of research:
- Structural investigations of protein interactions with LIOS drug candidates
- Development of ssNMR technology
- Structural investigations of spider silk proteins
- Structural investigations of amyloid fibers
National infrastructure
Infrastructure at LBMC:
- Standard equipment for cloning (PCR machines, centrifuges, electrophoresis units, etc)
- Equipment for protein production in bacterial, yeast and insect cell cultures (incubators, sterile rooms, laminars, cold rooms, small scale fermenter)
- Equipment for protein purification (chromatoghraphy systems like Akta Explorer, Akta FPLC, Akta prime, ultracentrifuges, etc)
- Bruker Daltonics MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer
- Equipment for protein crystallization – thermoregulated crystallization room and incubators, TECAN Freedom Evo crystallization robot, microscopes, accessories for cryocrystallography
- In-house protein crystal diffraction system Bruker X8 Proteum with Microstar x-ray generator and CCD detector
Infrastructure at LIOS:
- Standard equipment for cloning (PCR machines, centrifuges, electrophoresis units, etc)
- Equipment for protein production in bacterial, yeast and insect cell cultures (incubators, sterile rooms, laminars, cold rooms, small scale fermenter)
- Equipment for protein purification (chromatoghraphy systems like Akta Explorer, Akta FPLC, Akta prime, ultracentrifuges, etc)
- Bruker Daltonics MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer
- Equipment for protein crystallization – thermoregulated crystallization room and incubators, TECAN Freedom Evo crystallization robot, microscopes, accessories for cryocrystallography
- In-house protein crystal diffraction system Bruker X8 Proteum with Microstar x-ray generator and CCD detector
Latvian contact point (contact person)
Prof. Kaspars Tārs
kaspars@biomed.lu.lv