Institut de Biologie StructuraleGrenoble / France

Contact person(s) related to this article / WEIK Martin


Responsable: Martin Weik


Proteins are the molecular engines of life. Their broad range of biological tasks and functions is reflected in a large diversity of specific structural and dynamical characteristics. Whereas a large body of structural information has been gathered over the last decades, dynamical insight is still scarce. Yet, only an understanding of the structural dynamics, i.e. of the relation between structure and dynamics, will unravel the complex mysteries of biomolecular function and its various roles in cellular processes.

Within the group, four independent research teams synergistically develop and apply a broad range of experimental and computational methodologies with the aim to enlarge the structural understanding of biological macromolecules by a dynamical dimension and in a cellular context.

Two research teams

- PIXEL (team leader: Dominique Bourgeois)
- Structural protein dynamics (team leader: Martin Weik)

Research Topics:

- Fluorescent proteins photophysics; Super resolution microscopy: PALM/TIRF microscopy; Photoactivated protein dynamics
- Modeling the structure and function of proteins, Development of simulation algorithms, Simulation of enzymatic reaction mechanisms
- Hydration influence on protein dynamics
- Structural dynamics of medically relevant soluble, membrane and intrinsically disordered proteins: acetylcholinesterase, tau, porins
- Implication of structural dynamics in specific protein damage by ionizing radiation and reactive oxygen species (ROS)


protein dynamics; fluorescent proteins; photoactivation and photobleaching; super resolution fluorescence microscopy; TIRF microscopy, single molecule imaging; photoactivation; photobleaching; microspectrophotometry ; kinetic crystallography ; structural dynamics ; photophysics; molecular modelling; molecular simulation; enzymatic reaction mechanisms; neutron scattering; acetylcholinesterase; malate dehydrogenase; structural protein dynamics; neurodegenerative diseases; tau protein; anti-Alzheimer drugs; reactivators of poisoned acetylcholinesterases; porin; antibiotic resistance

Specialized Techniques:

- X-ray crystallography
- kinetic crystallography
- in crystallo microspectrophotometry
- incoherent neutron scattering
- molecular modelling
- molecular dynamics
- quantum chemistry
- super-resolution microscopy : PhotoActivated Localization Microscopy (PALM)
- Molecular and cell biology: Fluorescent protein fusion constructs

Available services

- Super resolution imaging (D. Bourgeois)


The list of the publications of the group is available here.