The sixth Instruct Biennial Structural Biology Conference 2024 took place in the seaside town of Cascais, Portugal, welcoming more than 230 structural biology researchers to the leading integrated structural biology conference.
The Instruct Biennial Structural Biology Conference 2024!
The conference was formed around talks from several leading lights in the field of structural biology, each utilising a range of integrated techniques to conduct their research. This took attendees on a journey of sessions, kicking off with the timely topic of structural biology in combination with Artificial Intelligence (AI), but also with Molecular Dynamics (MD). From there, the impact of structural biology on health and the environment was discussed, opening the door for some cutting-edge talks on human disease and cell structures.
The second day began with a session on structural biology in combination with imaging studies – a wide range of structural characterisation techniques were displayed by invited and promoted speakers. The speaker programme closed with a selection of talks on structural biology’s place in advancing global sustainability, from bacteria and viral structural determination to plant studies.
The Instruct Biennial Poster Session
In between the plenary sessions, poster sessions allowed attendees to interact, share experiences, and keep up to date with the latest research blossoming in integrated structural biology, and to forge new connections between facilities (which can be accessed through Instruct-ERIC).
Swasti Rawal (Medical University of Graz, France) was selected as the best poster winner by the scientific organising committee for their work characterising the structural of Caspase-9. The visiting attendees were also welcome to vote for their favourite poster, and after a strong voter turnout, Iñes Ventura (Faculty of Science, University of Lisboa) was crowned the winner for their work on developing new adhesive proteins, characterised from sea urchins.
Instruct was also able to honour its list of successful student fellows for 2024 – their abstracts were selected by the scientific organising committee as outstanding work, and they were invited to collect their certification on the day.
The conference was closed by Jan Steyaert of VIB-VUB in Belgium, who announced to an expectant crowd the location of the next Biennial Conference in 2026: Brussels!
The full list of speakers can be found below, a breakdown of the talks will follow soon: