Structural Biology Core Facility

Structural Biology Core Facility We help scientists from Poland and around the world to solve macromolecular structures.

Today, during the MCB Core Facility Review, our Team Leader Piotr Wilk presented a summary of the Structural Biology Cor...
09/06/2026

Today, during the MCB Core Facility Review, our Team Leader Piotr Wilk presented a summary of the Structural Biology Core Facility’s activity over the last 6 months, and the sheer volume of work is noticeable. Over this short period, SBCF successfully:

💎 measured 1,120 crystals,
💎 set 371 crystal plates,
💎 completed 8 synchrotron measurement sessions,
💎 supports with our expertise 10 research groups from Małopolskie Centrum Biotechnologii, Wydział Biochemii, Biofizyki i Biotechnologii - Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Wydział Chemii UJ and beyond.

We also successfully executed 2 fragment screening campaigns and celebrated 7 newly published scientific papers that acknowledged the SBCF team for our support.

On top of that, our Vitrobot is back in operation (yet currently only for expert users), and we have officially launched our newest service: Crystallographic Fragment Screening.

Looking to incorporate structural biology or fragment screening into your own research projects? Whether you need support with protein crystallization or structure analysis, feel free to reach out to discuss how we can assist with your project. Let’s solve your next structure together! 🧬✨

# Uniwersytet Jagielloński

It has been an incredibly busy and successful week for our Structural Biology Core Facility Team.Our team, led this time...
29/05/2026

It has been an incredibly busy and successful week for our Structural Biology Core Facility Team.

Our team, led this time by dr Ela Wątor-Wilk, successfully soaked and fished over 800 crystals for our next two consecutive Fragment Screening (FS) campaigns. It was a massive team effort, requiring intense focus, precision, and plenty of coffee. ☕️💎

We would like to extend our gratitude to the team at the MAX IV Laboratory synchrotron especially Tobias Krojer and Afshan Begum (Ph.D.). Your fantastic support, excellent facilities, and technical assistance throughout this run were absolutely vital to our progress.

The work continues as data collection is scheduled to run remotely over the weekend. We are looking forward to analyzing the upcoming results! 💻📈

Małopolskie Centrum Biotechnologii
Uniwersytet Jagielloński

The results of a successful collaboration between Molecure, the Medical University of Warsaw - MUW, and the Structural B...
11/05/2026

The results of a successful collaboration between Molecure, the Medical University of Warsaw - MUW, and the Structural Biology Core Facility (SBCF) at Małopolskie Centrum Biotechnologii were recently published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.

While the project was led by Molecure and focused on the discovery and optimization of selective USP7 inhibitors, scientists from SBCF provided critical support through structural analysis using macromolecular crystallography. Their contribution included delivering detailed insights into the binding modes of the inhibitors, which supported the Molecure team in the SAR-driven optimization of the lead compound, OAT-4828.

The research highlights OAT-4828 as a potent inhibitor that enhances T-cell killing capacity and demonstrates significant antileukemic activity in vivo. Furthermore, the study underscores how USP7 inhibition offers a powerful upstream approach to modulating the p53–MDM2 axis.

“It was a pleasure to contribute our facility’s expertise to this high-impact study, illustrating how specialized structural biology services can support innovative drug discovery pipelines,” said dr. hab. Piotr Wilk, Head of the Structural Biology Core Facility at MCB.

Read the full text: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.6c00407

For determining the crystal structure, we need to record an X-ray diffraction pattern from a monocrystal. This implies t...
13/04/2026

For determining the crystal structure, we need to record an X-ray diffraction pattern from a monocrystal. This implies the need to harvest each crystal individually. We call it fishing, but our prey is so tiny that we need to use a microscope and special, so-called cryo loops and magnetic wands.

Depending on crystal morphology and size, the process may be relatively easy or quite challenging. For the upcoming beamtime, our scientists have fished 201 crystals.

Regardless, the real beauty comes from the crystals' interior revealed to us by the power of macromolecular crystallography, this time during remote measurements at Synchrotron Grenoble.

Małopolskie Centrum Biotechnologii Uniwersytet Jagielloński

Hello from the synchrotron! 🧬 🔬 💎 Using   photons during last shift available before Easter break we are collecting >120...
02/04/2026

Hello from the synchrotron! 🧬 🔬 💎

Using photons during last shift available before Easter break we are collecting >120 crystals at our favourite beamline: MX beamlines at HZB in Berlin.

With this SBCF accounts for over 10k analysed crystals since 2019.

And as per usual we brought new Xtal enthusiasts along to show them magic which happens at BESSY.

Last Friday, Prof. Zygmunt Derewenda from the University of Virginia visited the Małopolskie Centrum Biotechnologii to d...
23/03/2026

Last Friday, Prof. Zygmunt Derewenda from the University of Virginia visited the Małopolskie Centrum Biotechnologii to deliver an inspiring lecture on the 200-year history of haemoglobin research.

For those of us at the Structural Biology Core Facility, it was a fascinating deep dive into the roots of our field, tracing the evolution of protein crystallography from the first crystals in 1840 to the pioneering X-ray studies of Max Perutz. Drawing from his own landmark structural work published in Nature, Prof. Derewenda reminded us that while our tools have evolved, the progress of science still relies on interdisciplinary interplay and serendipity.

Uniwersytet Jagielloński

Yesterday we shared some final results, but today it’s all about the early stages. At SBCF, we help build scientific sto...
18/03/2026

Yesterday we shared some final results, but today it’s all about the early stages. At SBCF, we help build scientific stories by supporting projects from the very beginning.

For this target, we were involved in every step: from consulting on the project idea and designing the genetic construct, to protein purification and setting up first crystallization screens.

It’s great to see the first crystals appearing after just a few days. We are very curious to see what mystery they hide inside, and we’ll find out in just two weeks during our synchrotron measurements.

If you have a project idea that requires structural insights, we are here to help you navigate the path from gene to structure.

Małopolskie Centrum Biotechnologii Uniwersytet Jagielloński

It’s been quiet here for a while, but we are back with some fantastic news. The first crystallographic fragment screenin...
03/02/2026

It’s been quiet here for a while, but we are back with some fantastic news. The first crystallographic fragment screening campaign conducted by the SBCF team has just been published in Communications Chemistry!

https://www.nature.com/articles/s42004-026-01897-9

We purified protein and performed the optimization of crystallization conditions at SBCF, then traveled to the MAX IV Laboratory in Lund to carry out crystal soaking and measurements using their state-of-the-art infrastructure. Finally, the comprehensive data analysis was completed back at our facility.

If you are interested in performing a crystallographic fragment screening campaign on your protein, please contact us directly!

Illustration: Dominika Dobosz Małopolskie Centrum Biotechnologii

12/11/2025

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Piotr Wilk as the new Head of the Structural Biology Core Facility (SBCF) at MCB!

Dr. Wilk succeeds dr hab. Przemyslaw Grudnik in this leadership role, bringing extensive expertise in macromolecular crystallography and user operations.

Dr. Wilk earned his Ph.D. from the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology PAS in 2013. He gained crucial technical experience working in the Macromolecular Crystallography at HZB at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) synchrotron and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

He joined Jagiellonian University and MCB in 2019 as a Postdoctoral Researcher within the TeamTech Core Facility FNP project and has since been an integral part of the SBCF team. His high productivity is evident in his contributions to nearly 60 structures deposited in the RCSB Protein Data Bank since joining MCB.

Dr. Wilk is a specialist in protein crystallography and crystallographic fragment screening. He is responsible for coordinating all our synchrotron measurements and has led structural analyses in numerous collaborative projects, including specialized 'gene-to-structure' projects and commercial collaborations. His commitment to research is further demonstrated by his current leadership of an OPUS grant funded by the NCN National Science Centre. This project is focused on structure-based targeting of antibiotic resistance in bacteria by inhibiting the post-translational activation of the translation factor EF-P – a crucial process in dangerous Gram-negative pathogens.

Under Dr. Wilk’s leadership, the Structural Biology Core Facility will continue to provide state-of-the-art infrastructure and essential expert support for structural research at MCB.

Join us in congratulating Dr. Wilk on his new appointment! We look forward to the continued advancement of structural biology research and the amazing structures solved at MCB under his expert direction. 👏

Uniwersytet Jagielloński

Exciting (and really hot☀️) day ahead of our   team. Today we are measuring   for our users at the European Synchrotron ...
24/07/2022

Exciting (and really hot☀️) day ahead of our team. Today we are measuring for our users at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility - ESRF ID-23 beamline🇫🇷.

Hoping for some nice diffraction and that neither crystals nor our team will melt today!

Adres

Gronostajowa 7a
Kraków
30-387

Godziny Otwarcia

Poniedziałek 09:30 - 19:00
Wtorek 09:30 - 19:00
Środa 09:30 - 19:00
Czwartek 09:30 - 19:00
Piątek 09:30 - 19:00
Sobota 09:30 - 19:00

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+48126646321

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