Molecular dynamics simulations for biological systems

Molecular dynamics (MD) enables studying the dynamic behaviour of molecular systems at an atomic scale. The preparation of molecular dynamics simulations for biological systems can be difficult and tricky. Additionally, subtle changes in the setup process can often affect the accuracy and robustness of the results. This course aims to showcase a consistent protocol to set up your system in order to run MD simulations using AMBER.

This course covers basic tools and technologies needed to succeed in setting up a MD simulation with the AmberTools suite, and will be run with hands-on exercises. It provides a background to the preparation of biological systems for molecular modelling and offers practical experience in creating topologies successfully. You will learn about the intricacies behind the molecular modelling of biological systems, such as the practical skills required to handling and preparing PDB files.

At the end of this session you will be able to …

The duration of the sessions will be between 1 and 2 hours, depending on the level of interactivity.

Trainers:

Prerequisites

In this lesson we use AmberTools which will be already installed in the workstations. The following is expected:

  • Comfortable using the Linux command line.
  • Prior experience with MD or Biological systems knowledge are not required.

Schedule

Setup Download files required for the lesson
00:00 1. Overview of AmberTools20 What is the AmberTools package?
00:05 2. Environment set up and downloading files Which software will be used in this workshop?
00:10 3. Preparing your PDB file What should I check before preparing a simulation?
00:25 4. Parameterising your ligands How do I generate parameters for non-conventional residues?
00:40 5. System set up How do I create topology and coordinate files?
00:50 6. Energy minimisation What should I do after generating my system’s topology and coordinates?
How do I refine and remove bad contacts from the initial structure?
01:00 7. Thermalisation and Pressure Equilibration How do I equilibrate my system with sander?
01:20 8. Production runs How long should I run my production runs?
01:30 9. Basic analysis of the trajectories Has my simulation converged?
Is my protein stable?
01:40 Finish

The actual schedule may vary slightly depending on the topics and exercises chosen by the instructor.