Abstract
Proteomics research has the potential to revolutionize many areas of medicine such as vaccine development, drug discovery, and diagnosis. One of the shortcomings of current methods is that they are ill-equipped to handle and manipulate proteins that are hydrophobic and insoluble in aqueous solutions. Membrane proteins in particular are often insoluble and thus under-studied, despite their importance in crystallography, study of infectious diseases, and signal transduction. Researchers at the Biodesign Institute of Arizona State University have developed a simple method for transitioning any protein, polypeptide, or peptide into a format for manipulation in a solution assay or experiment. Nano- or microparticles bind the protein or peptide and carry it for easy manipulation. This results in a particle suspension that can be used in any assay requiring fluidity, such as in enzyme assays, microtiter plate screens, micro-array probings, or injections. These particles may also be spotted onto functionalized surfaces for microarrays, microtiter plates, or individually in tubes. This method will permit the detailed study of membrane proteins, one of the most common and also most critical categories of proteins, yet one of the least studied. Potential Applications crystallography researching infectious diseases researching signal transduction drug and vaccine development medical diagnostics Benefits and Advantages allows facile manipulation of membrane and other insoluble protein simplified purification of insoluble proteins permits using insoluble proteins in microarrays, microtiter plates, etc. Download Original PDF For more information about the inventor(s) and their research, please see Dr. Sykes's directory webpage Dr. Sykes's departmental webpage Dr. Johnston's directory webpage
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| State | Published - Jul 22 2010 |