Modulation of ABC Exporters

Introduction

ABC transporters are molecular machines which use the energy of the cell to pump diverse chemicals across membranes. They take part in numerous biological processes, such as cell detoxification, and secretion of cholesterol and bile. We are interested in determining the sequence of conformational changes which lead to the coupling between translocation of chemicals and ATPase. Most transporters are strongly modulated by interactions with their environment, such as specific lipids, phosphorylation and soluble small molecules.

The Technology

We combine state of the art Cryo-EM with functional characterization of ABC transporters in order to find and understand the mechanism of various modulators of these transporters. Such modulators are invaluable drug leads for a large number of illnesses.

Advantages

• The advantage of our approach is the ability to integrate high throughput functional assays which guide the structural research using cutting edge Cryo-EM
• Novel targets for drug discovery

Patent Status

Know-how based technology. IP will be filed on the new generated products

Principal Investigator

Dr. Gabriel Frank, Department of Life Sciences and NIBN, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.