june, 2022
Event Details
Chair: Eri Sakata, UMG/MBExC
Speaker: Radostin Danev, Ph.D., Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Japan
Pushing the boundaries of cryo-EM for GPCRs
Abstract: Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) continues to grow as a powerful method for structural studies of biomolecules and their complexes. Nowadays, it can routinely determine molecular structures with resolutions in the 2.5 – 3.5 Å range. Such results are adequate for modelling of the protein but lack fidelity for confident localization of water molecules and hydrogen atoms. Unambiguous elucidation of the biochemistry behind protein function and pharmacology of drugs would require atomic resolution structures, at levels below 1.5 Å. Last year, several groups worldwide demonstrated atomic resolution cryo-EM with a test sample comprising the “easy” soluble protein apoferritin. This was an important technological milestone showcasing the best-case-scenario capabilities of cryo-EM. However, membrane proteins, and other real-world samples, impose numerous experimental challenges, such as small size, heterogeneity, flexibility, preferential orientation, etc. The talk will be about optimizing the performance of cryo-EM for challenging membrane proteins, and particularly in studies of the structure, pharmacology, and dynamics of G protein-coupled receptors.
Host: Carola Gregor (MBExC/IFNANO), Jan Huisken (U Göttingen), Eri Sakata (UMG)
Local organizers: Alexander Egner (IFNANO), Jörg Enderlein (U Göttingen)
