This volume is a collection of articles from the Proceedings of the
International School of Structural Biology and Magnetic Resonance 7th
Course: Structure, Structure and Biophysics - New Technologies for
Current Challenges in Biology and Beyond. This NATO Advance Study
Institute (ASI) was held in Erice (Italy) at the Ettore Majorana
Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture on 22 June through 3 July
2005. The ASI brought together a diverse group of experts in the fields
of structural biology, biophysics, and physics. Prominent lecturers,
from seven different countries, and students from around the world
participated in the NATO ASI organized by Professors Joseph Puglisi
(Stanford University, California, USA) and Alexander Arseniev (Moscow,
RU). Advances in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and X-ray
crystallography have allowed the thr- dimensional structures of many
biological macromolecules and their complexes, including the ribosome
and RNA polymerase to be solved. Fundamental principles of NMR
spectroscopy and dynamics, X-ray crystallography, computation, and
experimental dynamics were taught in the context of important biological
applications. The ASI addressed the treatment and detection of
bioterrorism agents, and focused on critical partner country priorities
in biotechnology, materials, and drug discovery. The range of topics
here represents the diversity of critical problems between structural
biology, biochemistry, and biophysics, in which lies the fertile ground
of drug development, biotechnology, and new materials. The individual
articles represent the state of the art in each area and provide a guide
to the original literature in this rapidly developing field.