On 9 June 2025, the Faculty of Science, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) officially launched an international non-degree training course titled “Conceptual Course for Macromolecular Structure Determination.” The opening ceremony was presided over by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tula Jutarosaga, Dean of the Faculty of Science, with Dr. Aimorn Saksaengwijit, Head of the Department of Chemistry, in attendance.
This intensive training program is organized by the Comprehensive Protein X-ray Crystallography (CPXC) research unit, led by Asst. Prof. Dr. Leela Ruckthong and Dr. Siwatra Choodej, in collaboration with Dr. Ruslan Sanishvili, an expert in structural biology from the United States. The course aims to equip graduate students and early-career researchers from Thailand and across Southeast Asia with in-depth knowledge of Macromolecular X-ray Crystallography (MX) and Cryo-electron Microscopy (Cryo-EM) which are essential techniques for understanding biomolecular structures at the atomic level, with applications in drug design and biotechnology development.
Held from 9 June – 9 July 2025, the course includes lectures and hands-on sessions, featuring 8 international experts, including: Dr. Ronan Keegan, Dr. Eugene Krissinel, Dr. Andrey Lebedev (CCP4, UK), Dr. Dorothee Liebschner (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA), Dr. Peter Harrison, Dr. David Farmer, Dr. George Coldstream, and Mr. Nicholas Wyatte (Diamond Light Source, UK)
This course builds on the success of the SEA COAST program (2019–2024), with expanded content, a full one-month schedule, and the addition of Cryo-EM which is a rapidly advancing technique in structural biology. The initiative reflects KMUTT’s commitment to advancing structural biology education and fostering regional collaboration in Southeast Asia.
