Lipids in Structure & Function of Membrane Proteins

Membrane proteins perform critical cellular functions, involving transport of ions and nutrients, signal transduction and energy conversion, and their malfunctions often result in numerous serious deceases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes, cancers, heart failures and others.
Environment of biological membrane strongly affects functions of embedded in it proteins, however, structural aspects of allosteric effects of lipids on protein function are poorly understood. Our group is focused on elucidating roles of lipids in structure and function of proteins in biological membranes. In our research we extensively use Lipidic Cubic Phase (LCP) as a tool to study lipid/protein interactions and to crystallize membrane proteins directly from the lipidic environment. Please check our LCP Resources page to find more information on this technology. Our protein targets include G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR), ion channels and transporters.