From May 27 to 28, 2026, Brussels hosted the 7th Biennial Conference of the European Infrastructure Consortium for Structural Biology (Instruct-ERIC). The event was attended by four Instruct-LV representatives, who are also staff members at NIRI: Kaspars Tārs, Jana Petkus, Alvis Zvirgzdiņš, and Jēkabs Fridmanis.

06_Instruct_Biennal_2026.jpg
In the photo: Instruct-LV representatives Jana Petkus, Kaspars Tārs, and Alvis Zvirgzdiņš alongside one of Latvia's poster presentations on the structural study of a vaccine candidate.

During the poster sessions, the Instruct-LV representatives introduced conference attendees to diverse and cutting-edge research in structural biology:

  • Kaspars Tārs presented the findings of his research group, which discovered and partially characterized approximately 10,000 proteins of unknown function encoded by single-stranded RNA bacteriophages.

  • Jana Petkus presented a structural study of a Parkinson's disease vaccine candidate, conducted using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.

  • Alvis Zvirgzdiņš demonstrated a study utilizing solid-state NMR and electron microscopy to determine how the multi-drug resistant fungus Candida auris alters its cell wall structure following antibiotic treatment.

  • Jēkabs Fridmanis presented structural studies on proteins encoded by the ryegrass mottle virus.

Throughout the conference, participants attended presentations on the most significant recent breakthroughs in structural biology and gained valuable insights into the technological evolution of the field.

The event also served as an excellent platform for networking with international colleagues, opening doors for collaborative projects. For instance, Finnish scientists expressed strong interest in Alvis Zvirgzdiņš's research, and active plans are already underway for a mutual collaboration to determine the structures of bacterial cell wall polysaccharides.

Picture1.jpg

 

The National Institute of Research and Innovation is implementing project No. 1.1.1.5/3/24/I/006 “Development of Latvia’s research potential by strengthening the integration of the Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre into European infrastructures and scientific networks”, within which the Latvian National Partnership Plan of the Integrated Structural Biology Infrastructure (Instruct-ERIC) is being implemented.