| COMMENTS |
Boxer Steven G., chemistry prof at Stanford University “The group at Co. appears to have considerable success in demonstrating function & selectivity of important class of membrane-associated proteins”. He has pioneered methods of patterning LIPIDS on surfaces. “The group is making important progress in this area” |
| TECHNOLOGY |
Membrane proteins don’t function well out of their LIPID environment. Co.’s scientists have successfully demonstrated microarrays of GPCR, a impor tant class of membrane-bound proteins. Such arrays could be useful for DRUG SCREENING because many drugs target membrane proteins. Constructing such array is a “two-part immobilization problem” involving both the membrane & the protein. Researchers developed a system that is mechanically stable but still allows individual molecules to move around in the immobilized membrane. Such lateral fluidity is a property of biological membranes. The surfaces that best balanced those properties were modified with GAMMA-AMINOPROPYL SILANE. After they determined that model systems could be printed on the surface, the scientists turned their attention to real biol systems. They made arrays with combinations of 3 different families of GPCRs – the ADRENERGIC, NEU ROTENSIN, & DOPAMINE RECEPTORS. The arrays were incubated with fluorescently labeled ligands to screen compds across different receptor families & within a single family of receptors “The affinity of compds for a particular GPCR that we find using these arrays is the same as you get by other methods”. This finding “suggests that the GPCR/G-protein complex is preserved in the microspot. It opens the door to the possibility of studying not just ligand binding but ligand agonism”. The next step for group is to fabricate arrays for other types of membrane proteins”. “GPCRs are complex set of proteins” “If we can work with them, the chances are that we will be able to work with other membrane proteins also” |
| UPDATE | 03.02 |
| AUTHOR | This data is not available for free |
| LITERATURE REF. | This data is not available for free |
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