New CPD PhD Course Brings Protein Design to the Forefront

Building Foundations in Protein Design

We are more than halfway through the first CPD PhD course “Protein Design Primer: Principles and Tools for Protein Design and Engineering” and it has been a rewarding experience watching students with backgrounds in biophysics, molecular biomedicine, engineering, physics, biochemistry and computer science gather together and build a strong foundation in protein design.

From Theory to Practice

After a quick introduction to amino acids, peptide bonds and protein structures, the course quickly delved into computational tools and experimental methods. Alongside classroom lectures following a flipped learning model and lots of whiteboard discussions, students have been working on their computers and in the lab putting theoretical concepts into practice. As some of the students report, it has been enjoyable to “…learn the fundamentals again, this time with hands-on experience” and “…to be exposed to such a wide range of computational methods”.

Building an Interdisciplinary Community

It has been a blast to see how different people, from different backgrounds, approach protein design.

One great aspect of this course has been the diversity, not just in the content itself but also the multidisciplinary backgrounds of the participants. Of the 20 students on the course (a full house), 10 are PhD students at SCIENCE, 9 are PhD students at SUND and 1 at DTU. Through working in pairs and in small groups, the course is providing these early career researchers the opportunity to collaborate effectively and avenues for lots of “scientific and non-scientific conversations”. As CPD integrated Masters and PhD student Konstantinos Kariotis puts it, “it has been a blast to see how different people, from different backgrounds, approach protein design”.

Looking Ahead

The final sessions of the course are focused on honing the critical thinking and reflection skills of these young researchers, with lively discussions and workshops on specific topics in protein design. The course ends on the 8^th of December, but for those hungry for more, our second PhD course “Advanced Methods in Protein Design” is currently open for registration and will run in the first two weeks of February.