Overview

The CSB provides an integrated platform of expertise, infrastructure and education to foster a wider use of structural biology by the UNC community.

The CSB mission is to make structural biology available as a general tool to any researcher.

Structures of macromolecules at atomic resolution have helped to revolutionize modern biology. Structural insight is often crucial for understanding the functions of biological macromolecules, including their interactions with small ligands (such as substrates, inhibitors, drugs) and other macromolecules (nucleic acids and/or proteins). Consequently, structural biology represents one of the pillars of basic biomedical research; it is indispensable for deciphering the details of life processes and for understanding the differences between natural and diseased states. Building on such insights, structural biology can assist in devising novel therapies, e.g., through structure-based or structure-aided drug design.

The enormous information content available in high-resolution, three-dimensional structures has sparked the desire of non-structural biologists to examine the structures of the macromolecules that they study.

Structural biology is technically demanding, and it requires highly specialized expertise. The CSB removes or reduces these barriers that usually prevent general researchers from engaging in structural biology-based projects by themselves.

Learn more: Benefits...

Please contact the CSB director if you are interested in studying structural aspects of your research.