Short Report of Jörg Schaarschmidt: GENERATION OF A FULL-LENGTH GPHR MODEL at Vanderbilt University (MAY 2 – MAY 21)
by Jörg Schaarschmidt (postdoc at Leipzig University): After attending the conference on “Biomolecular Structure, Dynamics, and Function of Membrane Proteins” at the Vanderbilt University, gaining insights into the extended field of membrane proteins and about interesting new techniques like femtosecond cristallography, I spent three weeks at Prof. Jens Meiler’s Lab conceiving and testing a strategy for combining the previously generated homology models of the ligand binding domain and the transmembrane domain of the thyrotropin receptor into a full-length structural model. With the expertise and direct feedback of the Meiler lab members I was able to overcome several obstacles and ended up with a feasible strategy to pursue during my ongoing work in Leipzig. The established and deepened cooperation with the Meiler Lab is furthermore an important factor for the successful continuation of the project. Before finally returning to Leipzig I attended the “GPCR Structure, Function and Drug Discovery” conference in Cambridge and presented the first results of the project.
