Structure & Dynamics of Membrane Proteins

Research in this area involves structural, biochemical, and pharmacological characterization of integral membrane proteins. The major objectives of these studies are to determine the mechanism by which these critical proteins function in the context of the lipid membrane, which serves both as a barrier and a unique environment. These studies address questions pertinent to fundamental biology: how is a signal transduced across the membrane; how is selectivity and high permeation maintained by a membrane channel; what are the mechanisms to regulate the activity of the membrane protein? To address these questions, advanced modern approaches of X-ray crystallography, NMR, electron microscopy, and computational analysis are used.

Participating Faculty in this Area:

• Michael Cascio, Structure & function of the glycine receptor
• Judith Klein-Seetharaman, Conformational dynamics in membrane receptors
• Peijun Zhang, High-resolution cryo-electron microscopy of macromolecular assemblies
• Joanne Yeh, X-ray crystal structures and functional studies of membrane receptors and channels
• Maria Kurnikova, Molecular dynamics & function of channels
• Pei Tang, NMR & computations of membrane protein structures, dynamics & drug effects
• Yan Xu, NMR of ion channels & low-affinity drug action