The ITABAG includes structural biologists from Universities, National Research Council and Hospital research centres in Italy. The laboratories apply various diffraction methods to study the structure-function relationships in various macromolecules. A unifying factor for the vast majority of the macromolecules under study is that they are related to human health, either directly, being human proteins involved in some disease, or indirectly, as proteins expressed by human pathogens and validated as potential pharmacological targets. Other projects investigate basic chemical processes, such as crystal growth and polymer association and formation of nanostructures.