We investigate the structure and supramolecular organization of membrane proteins using high-resolution microscopy techniques, i.e. transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), and X-ray crystallography.

: Schematic representation of our working strategies, see Meury et al. (2011), Biol. Chem.

Methods

Single particle analysis is used to determine the structure and oligomeric state of detergent-solubilized membrane proteins from projection images obtained by TEM.
Electron crystallography of 2D membrane protein crystals is applied to reveal the projection and 3D structure of membrane proteins embedded in the lipid membrane. To determine the topography and dynamics of membrane proteins, proteoliposomes and 2D crystals are imaged by AFM.

In 2006 we also started expanding to 3D crystallization and X-ray crystallography of membrane proteins.

Our mission

Our mission is to assess the structure and supramolecular organization of membrane proteins in the detergent-solubilized state and in their native environment, the lipid bilayer.

Target proteins

Our target proteins consist mainly (but not only) of membrane transport and channel proteins.

Our research is founded by