ITABAG: 3D structures of macromolecules related to human health

The ITABAG includes structural biologists from Universities, the National Research Council and Hospital research centres in Italy. The laboratories take advantage of single crystal and small angle X-ray diffraction methods to study the structure-function relationships in various macromolecules. A unifying factor for the vast majority of the macromolecules under study is that they are related to human health, either directly, being human proteins involved in some disease, or indirectly, as proteins expressed by human pathogens and validated as potential pharmacological targets. Other projects investigate basic chemical processes, such as crystal growth, or aim at characterising macromolecules with potential biotechnological applications.

ITABAG汇集了来自意大利各高等院校、国家研究委员会以及医院研究中心的结构生物学家。该团队的实验室借助单晶体X射线衍射（single crystal X-ray diffraction）与小角度X射线衍射（small angle X-ray diffraction）技术，探究各类生物大分子（macromolecules）的结构-功能关联关系。本研究覆盖的绝大多数待研生物大分子均与人类健康息息相关：既包括直接相关的、参与疾病进程的人类蛋白质，也涵盖间接相关的人类病原体表达且经验证为潜在药物靶点（pharmacological targets）的蛋白质。另有部分研究项目聚焦于晶体生长等基础化学过程，或是旨在表征具备潜在生物技术应用（biotechnological applications）价值的生物大分子。