Advanced Search: What Is New and How to Use It
Webinar hosted by RCSB PDB | Monday January 26, 2026
The RCSB PDB Advanced Search tool allows users to build precise and complex queries of the PDB archive. Learn how to build complex queries, including 3D structural searches that are integrated with interactive Mol* visualization and how to use the Chemical Search option.
Course Objectives and Intended Audiences
After watching the videos in this course, you will be able to:
- Determine the best search tool or tools to identify structures of interest
- Select an attribute for searching (e.g., Organism, Experimental Method, Resolution) and add conditions to narrow results
- Find structures that contain a similar nucleotide or protein sequence
- Find structures with sequences that share small conserved regions (motifs) that have biological meaning
- Find structures that share a similar 3D shape
- Find structures that contain a similar 3D arrangement of residues with functional significance (catalytic or binding sites)
- Search and explore experimental structures, integrative structures, and Computed Structure Models (CSMs)
This course is intended for:
- Bioinformatics or structural biology researchers
- Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in biomedical sciences
- Anyone interested in learning more about RCSB.org
Additional Resources
Course Videos
Click on the image below to play the video.
Introduction: Protein Data Bank and RCSB PDB
Yana Rose, Ph.D.
Scientific Software Developer & Data Architect, RCSB PDB, University of California San Deigo/San Diego Supercomputer Center
Advanced Search For 3D Structure Discovery
Yana Rose, Ph.D.
Case Study: Trypsin Catalytic Site
Yana Rose, Ph.D.
Search Results Exploration
Yana Rose, Ph.D.
Chemical Search Capabilities
Yana Rose, Ph.D.
