On 4 and 5 June last, CIC bioGUNE, the Centre for Cooperative Research in Biosciences, held a workshop on Structural Virology, or the structural biology of virus, the most plentiful organisms on earth. The purpose of the event was to provide an overall view and discuss the latest progress in this discipline through papers presented by different specialists on the subject.

The workshop was able to count on the participation of speakers belonging to institutions such as the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), an organization dependent on the NIH-National Institutes of Health (U.S.A.); the universities of Oxford (U.K.) and Helsinki (Finland); and centres like the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale of Lausanne (Switzerland), the Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB-CSIC), the Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (CBM), or the Instituto de Biología Molecular de Barcelona (IBMB). The Basque Country was represented by Diego Guerin from the Biophysics Unit at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and by Nicola Abrescia and Francisco Blanco from CIC bioGUNE.

As a simple of the variety of issues addressed, we can mention the papers given by Prof. Alasdair Steven (NIH) on the internal organization of some viruses, whose genetic material is packed in particles in an analogues way to what occurs in the human being; by Prof. Mauricio Mateu (CBM) about the mechanical properties of a model virus, and how these properties can be manipulated, with possible application in nanotechnology; and by Prof. Ignacio Fita (IBMB) on new structures, similar to viruses, found inside cells and so-called “vaults”, whose function is still unknown but might be involved in innate immunity.

This is the third workshop organised, on an annual basis, by the Structural Biology Unit of CIC bioGUNE, a cutting-edge facility that combines the technological potential of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Electronic Microscopy and X-Ray Diffraction. The platform, which promotes the use of state-of-the-art structural biology techniques, is at the disposal of the scientific and business community.