This research project deals with the development of magnetically aligned lipid mimetics for structure-function studies of membrane proteins under their native-like conditions (high lipid/protein ratio, physiological temperature, full hydration) by the method of solid-state NMR of oriented samples (OS).
A cartoon showing a membrane protein aligned within a magnetically aligned bicelle. The figure below shows high-resolution OS 15N NMR spectra of Pf1 intact phage and Pf1 coat protein reconstituted in magnetically aligned bicelles.
High alignment of membrane proteins contains structural and dynamic information. Especially promising are the magnetically aligned bicelles and macrodisks, the latter showing even superior resolution as compared to bicelles. SAMPI4 spectrum of Pf1 coat protein reconstituted in 14-mer belt-peptide stabilized macrosdisks is shown on the right below.
