Proteins are the building blocks of life – and the docking sites for pharmaceutical compounds. Therefore, understanding exactly how proteins function and react to stimuli opens up new possibilities in pharmaceutical research. Four researchers have now been awarded a prestigious ERC Synergy Grant to investigate how proteins respond to electric fields. Their method will be prototyped using the X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, with the aim of expanding to other large research facilities in the future.
Four researchers have been awarded an ERC Synergy Grant by the European Research Council for their joint project SPARX. The grant will provide approximately CHF 8.5 million over the next six years. The researchers are John Beale from the PSI Center for Photon Science, Doeke Hekstra from Harvard University with the University of Hamburg as his host institution, Thomas J. Lane from the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg and Guido Meier from the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) in Hamburg. Together, they aim to develop a new capability to study how proteins — the building blocks of life — respond to electric fields.
SPARX, which stands for Structural Perturbations by Applied electRic-field Xtallography, builds on established serial crystallography techniques and the emerging domain of electric-field crystallography. In serial crystallography, crystals are first grown from proteins that can then be illuminated with X-rays. By analysing the resulting diffraction patterns, it is possible to determine the location of every individual atom within a protein.
“If we can understand the structure of proteins down to the level of individual atoms, we can better understand their functions within living organisms,” explains John Beale, whose research takes place at the X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL at PSI. “This knowledge can then be used to develop new pharmaceutical compounds in a targeted way.”
Read more on the PSI website
Image: Four researchers have jointly been awarded an ERC Synergy Grant: Thomas J. Lane from the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg, Doeke Hekstra from Harvard University with the University of Hamburg as his host institution, Guido Meier from the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) in Hamburg, and John Beale from the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI (from left to right). They will receive funding equivalent to approximately CHF 8.5 million over the next six years. Their aim is to establish a method for triggering protein dynamics using electric fields, allowing them to probe these dynamics and discover new therapeutic opportunities.
Credit: © Paul Scherrer Institute PSI/John Beale