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Research Director: Dr. So Iwata
(Professor, Division of Molecular Biosciences, Imperial College London)
Research Term: 2005-2010

There is an expectation that the results from the human genome project can be exploited to lead to new drugs that are both more efficacious and less toxic than those currently on the market. One of the milestones to reaching this goal is to determine the structure of proteins targeted by drugs. Our project aims to establish a methodology for structure determination of human membrane proteins using X-ray crystallography. Despite being major drug targets, the high hydrophobicity of membrane proteins renders them difficult to crystallize. We will establish large-scale expression and purification methods to provide ample protein for high throughput crystallization screening. In addition a low-noise X ray data analysis system will be developed at a 3rd generation synchrotron to aid in the process of structure solution.