Great Plains Regional Annual Symposium on Protein and Biomolecular Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (GRASP NMR)
The 2025 GRASP NMR Symposium will be held October 17-18, 2025 at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.
Our Mission
The GRASP symposium aims to highlight the pivotal role of protein NMR in integrated structural biology and to provide a platform for students and postdoctoral researchers in the Great Plains to enhance their technical and communication skills.
Integrated structural biology combines experimental and computational techniques to unravel the structure, dynamics, and function of biomolecules. Traditional approaches, such as X-ray crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), NMR spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry, excel in specific contexts but face limitations when tackling large, flexible, or heterogeneous complexes. By integrating data from these methods, researchers overcome these challenges to create detailed models of complex molecular assemblies. Computational tools further complement these efforts, enabling multi-scale models that capture biomolecules across diverse states and environments.
The GRASP symposium showcases how protein NMR contributes to this interdisciplinary approach. We encourage abstracts demonstrating the integration of NMR data—such as chemical shifts or relaxation measurements—with cryo-EM, X-ray crystallography, AlphaFold, or mass spectrometry to refine structures or uncover conformational changes and interactions critical to biological function. By advancing integration, structural biology is pushing the boundaries of understanding life at the molecular level.”
Why to attend GRASP
–Affordable: Thanks to our sponsors we offer a convenient registration fee ($100-120 including meals).
–Sustainable: GRASP is held in the center of the Great Plains region, which minimizes travel time and environmental impact.
–Scientific growth: The GRASP program has a balanced ratio of PI and student talks, which provides opportunities to trainees to develop their presentation skills.
–Networking: The informal setting of GRASP fosters scientific discussions and networking.
–Practical Workshop: We offer a 3-hour practical workshop on an NMR technique (i.e., chemical shift perturbation, CPMG relaxation dispersion, CEST, etc.) at no extra cost. The workshop will introduce the participants to the best practices and scripts to implement the method in their lab. The specific topic will be announced on a year-by-year basis.
Sponsors
ASC
Iowa State University Department of Chemistry
Organizing Committee
Roberto de Guzman – Relations with sponsors
Mike Latham – Relations with speakers
Julien Roche – Workshop
Vincenzo Venditti – Rebranding and advertising
Past GRASP symposia
2024 Information
2023 Information
2019 – 2022 Information: (https://grasp-nmr.ku.edu/past-symposia)