Name: Czech Infrastructure for Integrative Structural Biology
Institution: Masaryk University
Coordinator: prof. RNDr. Vladimír Sklenář, DrSc., vladimir.sklenar@ceitec.muni.cz
Website
CIISB is a distributed large research infrastructure of the core facilities and central laboratories operated within the capacities of the research and development centres of CEITEC (Central European Institute of Technology) and BIOCEV (Biotechnology and Biomedicine Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Charles University in Vestec). CIISB provides expertise and access to technologies used for integrative approaches for conducting structural analyses of biologically important cellular components and macromolecules at different resolution levels, ranging from atomic to cellular. The CIISB research infrastructure consists of 10 core facilities and central laboratories of national and international importance. CIISB provides equipment, expertise and access to the latest technologies for the preparation and characterization of samples, for the determination of their spatial structure at atomic resolution and for mapping the time variability of a three-dimensional arrangement over a wide time scale ranging from 10-9 to 103 s. Excellent CIISB technologies used for NMR spectroscopy, cryo-electron microscopy and tomography, the crystallization of biological macromolecules, X-ray diffraction and Bio-SAXS measurements, nanobiotechnologies, the biophysical characterization of bio(macro)molecules and mass spectrometry for studying bio(macro)molecules are at a level of quality that is comparable to other large European research infrastructures for structural biology. The concentration of up-to-date high-end
instrumentation and scientific expertise, unrivalled at the national level, facilitates the acquisition and interpretation of data obtained from instruments covering more than 20 key technologies and enables the development of new methodologies. CIISB facilitates the dissemination of knowledge and stimulates collaboration between centres of fundamental and applied research. At the European level, CIISB stands out due to its high-end equipment for cryo-electron microscopy and tomography, X-ray techniques, high-field NMR spectroscopy and high-resolution structural mass spectrometry. CIISB has become a part of the Instruct-ERIC (Integrated Structural Biology European Research Infrastructure Consortium) European research infrastructure, of which the Czech Republic is a founding Member State. CIISB serves domestic, European and overseas users and thus represents not only a principal basis of national biomedical and biotechnological research, but also plays an essential role in the international research community.
