Research in the group of Prof. Amir Goldbourt:
Our group develops and applies solid-state NMR techniques to study structure and dynamics at atomic-resolution for a variety of materials across different disciplines.
Structural chemistry: We develop novel solid-state NMR techniques to study the chemical environment of metal ions, halogens and other NMR-active isotopes that experience strong interactions including quadrupolar interaction, chemical shift anisotropy or paramagnetic broadening. Our methods focus on increasing sensitivity, resolution, and accuracy of distance measurements at the atomic scale.
Structural biology: Our lab focuses on the design and application of methods to elucidate protein structure including data analysis automation techniques, acquisition and processing techniques, and improved experimental approaches.
Structural virology: We aim to understand at the atomic level the structure and dynamic properties of viral systems. Our studies include intact viruses, intermediate viral forms, isolated genomes and viral proteins, and interactions between different elements of the virus.
We have been studying for many years filamentous bacteriophages, which are micron-long semi-flexible particles composed of a circular ssDNA with thousands of nucleotides wrapped by thousands of similar copies of a major coat protein and several different minor coat proteins in both ends. Theses virus are widespread among many types of bacteria and archaea sharing their life cycle and influencing infectivity, pathogenicity, and other properties. We managed to solve the atomic-resolution capsid structure of the M13 virus (pdb: 2MJZ) and Ike virus (pdb: 6A7F). We also derived the structure of a premature viral form existing in the host cell (pdb: 8ACZ).

Email: amirgo@tauex.tau.ac.il

Web: http://kuwari.tau.ac.il/index.html