Cell Membrane Proteins

About

What is it? A method for combining polymers with cell membrane lipids to produce disk shaped nanoparticles, which are a useful tool in cell research and drug discovery.  Benefits of the new technology Allows isolation of “nature identical” membrane proteins, improved models for drug development, potential delivery vehicle for biopharmaceuticals. Background A new method of preparing membrane proteins for structural characterization, functional assays and drug discovery has been developed by researchers.  The key advantage over current methods is that no detergent, surfactant or micelle system is needed.  These agents typically inactivate and destabilize membrane proteins, are one of thee most valuable classes of drug targets. This new system preserves proteins in their native environment, maintaining them in a stable, active and intact state.  This is important as about half of all current drug discovery targets are proteins which reside in the cell membranes. Current methods for solubilising these proteins rely on detergents which may affect the characteristics of the drug target. Benefits of this new method include: maintenance of the lipid environment throughout the purification procedure which may be of benefit to those proteins requiring specific lipids for activity, the absence of scattering whilst maintaining the protein in a lipid environment which is a major improvement in circular dichroism analysis of natively folded proteins and finally being composed of biocompatible polymer and lipids, these nanoparticles also offer potential for the delivery of therapeutic agents including Biopharmaceuticals.