Main > PHARMA. > Drug Discovery > Cell Membrane Chemistry > Drug (Ligand) Protein Interactions > Co.: USA. P (Detection/Patents) > NPLS Contents
Many important cellular processes occur at membrane surfaces, and many drugs and infectious disease agents target proteins in cell membranes. Studying these poorly understood processes may soon get easier, thanks to a new technique for detecting binding events that occur at membrane surfaces.
The method, developed by AUTHOR depends on coating microscopic silica beads with a phospholipid bilayer. The fluidity of the bead-supported bilayer mimics that of natural cell membranes, and it is simple to embed fully functional ligands or protein receptors.
When dispersed in water, these membrane-coated beads spontaneously form two-dimensional colloidal crystals. The beads order is disrupted, however, when a protein receptor that binds to a ligand in the membrane is added to the solution. The dynamic process can be observed under a conventional light microscope.
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Click image to see the membrane-coated glass beads in their condensed--but still very dynamic--two-dimensional colloid phase. Click image to see them in their dispersed colloid phase, a transition that was triggered by addition of a protein antibody that binds to a ligand embedded in the membrane.
But direct observation of the process isn t necessary, AUTHOR notes. His team uses statistical methods to track changes in the spatial order of the beads. They are now working to adapt the method for high-throughput screening for protein-ligand interactions on membrane surfaces.
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