Molecular Bioanalytics: From molecular recognition to membrane transport (MoBA)

The interdisciplinary graduate research programme involves the Institutes of Biophysics, of Analytical Chemistry, of Applied Physics, of Organic Chemistry, and of Theoretical Physics from the Johannes-Kepler-University Linz (JKU), the Johann Radon Institute for Computational and Applied Mathematics from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and the Upper Austrian Research. It is designed to span the gap between the processes of molecular recognition and of molecular membrane transport. The first part is complementary to the GENAU-research network at the JKU "Ultra-sensitive proteomics and genomics", whereas the second part is generated by a long tradition of membrane transport research at the JKU. The scientific goal of the graduate programme is to gain insight into the molecular picture (1) of how molecules are recognised on the membrane surface and (2) of how they are conveyed across membrane proteins. The investigations of carriers (sodium-glucose transporter), nuclear pores, as well as water and ion channels (AQPs and TRP-channels) involved in molecular recognition and membrane transport are going to profit from the development of new bioanalytical methods (thin piezo-electrical film transducers, cell- microarrays, molecular imprinted polymers, high-throughput multi-parameter microscopy). Well established analytical techniques with a resolution covering the whole scale from single molecules to molecular ensembles provide a solid basis for the Molecular Bioanalytics (MoBA) programme. The latter is part of the interdisciplinary priority network "BioSystem Analysis" at the JKU and is designed to provide Austrian and international students with excellent opportunities for multi-disciplinary studies at the edge between physics, medicine, biology and chemistry. Its curriculum comprises a series of lectures in Single Molecule Techniques, in Bioanalysis of Molecular Ensembles and in Biomolecular Techniques which is supplemented by practical courses. In addition, the students will have the opportunity to attend rhetoric courses, courses in presentation techniques and knowledge transfer. The guidelines of the programme include participation in the annual "Single Molecules" workshop held in Linz and a yearly meeting (Summer school) between the student and the entire faculty. Funding by the programme enables Ph.D. students (i) to attend national and international conferences and (ii) to spend one semester in a foreign laboratory. Combined with research at the frontiers of life science, the programme will be applicable to many scientific and technological fields related to biophysics, applied physics, bioorganic chemistry, structural and molecular biology, mathematical modelling, and scientific computing giving the Ph.D. student lifelong flexibility for continued professional growth.