Protein structure and protein design
De novo structure determination
X-ray crystallography is used to investigate structure-function-relationships in two types of proteins, namely plasma transport proteins and bacterial repressor molecules. Recent work includes crystal structures of corticoid-binding globulin (CBG), apolipoprotein M (apoM) and various bacterial repressors such as reverse tetracycline repressor variants, HutC/GntR family members such as YvoA and DasR and other TetR-family repressors.
Probing protein architecture / protein design
Current advances in computational protein design enable the de novo design of proteins with novel properties. We have implemented established protein packing algorithms in the computer program MUMBO and are currently investigating the validity of these approaches by transforming a homodimeric bacterial repressor into a chain-specific heterodimer, redesigning the specificity of enzymes (for example SDRs) and transferring ligand-binding sites between different protein scaffolds (for example between plasma transport proteins). The program MUMBO is freely available to academic users upon request.
