Membrane Protein Structure, Assembly and Folding Group

(Left to right): Ann Dixon, Adam Bee (MChem), Richard Edwards, Antonia Nilsson, Natalie Ellis, Anthony Nash, Fay Probert, Sara Estolt-Povedano (Erasmus), Dharmesh Patel, Gemma Warren, Mike Chow

Our newest recruit!

Membrane proteins comprise over a third of the human genome, and a significant fraction of other known genomes. Helical membrane proteins in particular are emerging as the principal drug targets for a wide variety of diseases.

Despite their obvious importance, very little structural information has been obtained on this class of proteins. This is chiefly due to difficulties in the production and purification of membrane proteins, and the requirement of lipids or detergents to solubilize these proteins.

However, our growing understanding of detergents and lipids and the development of new formulations to solubilize membrane proteins has moved the field forward significantly.

Current areas of research

• Membrane protein 3D structure and assembly using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.
• Methods for solubilisation of membrane proteins.
• Sequence / interaction relationships for protein transmembrane domains to describe structural implications of certain disease states.
• Non-covalent interactions between transmembrane domains leading to specific oligomerisation and binding events, using biophysical techniques such as analytical ultracentrifugation and mass spectrometry.
• Molecular dynamics simulations of membrane protein assemblies.
• Inhibitor design for specific transmembrane protein-protein interactions.

• Michael Chow wins poster prize at Midlands Biophysics Symposium (April 2012)
• Fay Probert wins first prize for Best Poster at the Department of Chemistry's Postgraduate Symposium (June 2011)
• Dharmesh Patel wins second prize in the second year poster competition at the Department of Chemistry's postgraduate symposium (June 2010)
• Gemma Warren wins 2009 Prize for Best Thesis in Department of Chemistry (May 2010)
• Zsuzsanna Jenei now Dr. Zsuzsanna Jenei (April 2010)
• Gavin King now Dr. Gavin King (Jan 2010)
• Zsuzsanna Jenei wins second prize in the third year presentations at the Department of Chemistry's Postgraduate Symposium (June 2009)
• Gavin King wins prize for best Science and Medicine ePortfolio in the University's ePorfolio competition (June 2009)
• Gavin King wins poster prize for poster entitled 'Fat Lovers Unite' at the Midlands Biophysics Conference (Apr. 2009)
• Zsuzsanna Jenei wins first prize in the second year poster competition at the Department of Chemistry's postgraduate symposium (May 2008)
• Gavin King wins second prize at the University's ePortfolio competition (link) (May 2008)
• New group publications by Joanne Oates and Gavin King (link)
• Gemma Warren wins poster prizes at 2007 Biological Sciences Postgraduate Symposium and EPSRC Life Sciences Interface DTC Conference