YEBN Hottest Topics in Protein Research: MedILS Summer School Sanja Blaskovic 1,1 , Maja Cretnik 2,1 , Snjezana Juric 2,1 , Jelena Korac 1,1 , Marko Marjanovic 2,1 and Tanja Matijevic 2,1 , tmatijev@irb.hr Our summer school, Hottest Topics in Protein Research, was held from 19th July until 26th July 2008 at the Mediterranean Institute for Life Sciences (MedILS) in Split, Croatia, and was organized by six molecular biology PhD students from MedILS and the Rudjer Boskovic Institute (IRB). The idea of this school was to enable young researchers worldwide to learn more about the state-of-the-art techniques in protein research. MedILS is an international scientific institute with a high capacity to become a centre of scientific excellence in Croatia. The primary goal is to breed a specially trained generation of young scientists: creative, multidisciplinary professionals taught to think the unthinkable and conduct experiments to question ideas. The main MedILS building set in an inspiring Mediterranean surrounding provides a unique setting for scientific courses and seminars. MedILS conducts special educational activities for young students from all over the world under the MedILS Summer School programme. The third consecutive summer school was held this year and it has now become a tradition to organize it every year with new and diverse topics. In summer 2008, the MedILS educational programme offered five different courses. The first was entitled Hottest Topics in Protein Research and was designed and organized by students for students, with the guidance of Ivan Dikic. The second course, Science and the Web: From Theory to Implementations, aimed at understanding and facilitating the flow of information in the scientific community and other communities on the internet. The main focus of the third course, Life in Extreme Conditions, was the evolution and maintenance of life in outermost habitats. The fourth workshop, Entropy in Biomolecular Systems explored the advances in synergy of experimental and theoretical/computational approaches. MedILS Summer School 2008 was also combined in parts with the Summer Science Factory, which is a scientific-educational workshop for children between the ages of 10 and 15 years. Hottest Topics in Protein Research covered a variety of subjects in protein research, with a special emphasis on the most recent advances in the field. During the six-day programme, each day was dedicated to one particular field of protein research. Participants had five different lecturers over the first five days ending with two young investigator guest lecturers on the last day. The course started with Dr Fumiyo Ikeda (MedILS, Split, Croatia), who talked about the yeast two hybrid system for detecting interactions between proteins, and its applications. The participants had the opportunity to learn about mass spectrometry- based proteomics from Dr Boris Macek (Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Munich, Germany) and more specifically about quantitative phosphoproteomics using this powerful approach. Dr Timo Zimmerman (Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona, Spain) covered basic and advanced microscopy methods, especially fluorescence microscopy and photobleaching techniques. Dr Sanja Tomic (Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Zagreb, Croatia) explained the principles behind computer-based methods for protein study, with an emphasis on molecular modelling and molecular dynamics as tools for the study of macromolecules. Finally, Dr Oda Stoevesandt (Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge, UK) presented the principles behind protein arrays, and how and when they can be applied. The student guest lecturers showed some of their work on machine-based algorithms for SDS-PAGE gel analysis (Fran Supek, Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Zagreb, Croatia) and on protein crystallization (Dr Filip Glavan, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Munich, Germany). Additionally, the participants also had the opportunity to hear Dr Barbara Marte, senior editor of Nature magazine, who explained the process of selecting, reviewing and publishing manuscripts, giving an insight into how scientific journals actually work. One of the advantages of this school was that during the course the students also had the opportunity to interact with all the lecturers in a more relaxed environment during round table discussions in the gardens of the Institute. These spontaneous discussions turned out to be highly interesting, attracting most of the participants and often running through dinner, late into the night. Seventeen participants, the majority of them PhD students, were selected on the basis of their application and recommendation letters. The organizers, being PhD students themselves, were also participants, taking a dual role in this event. Participation was international, with YEBN New Biotechnology  Volume 25, Number 6  September 2009 1 All authors have equally contributed to this paper. 390 www.elsevier.com/locate/nbt 1871-6784/$ - see front matter ß 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.nbt.2009.07.002