Artificial Cell Membrane (ACM) Technology and Its Use for Rapid Access to Intractable Membrane Protein Drug Targets

摘要

Membrane proteins (MPs) are key to cellular functioning and critical to all aspects of human health. Working with these proteins is challenging, since MPs are embedded in the plasma membrane, and this is a prerequisite for them to control the communication of the cell with its surroundings. Despite their importance, majority of MPs from the human genome remain underexploited as compared to soluble proteins and enzymes, which is mainly due to their extremely delicate nature and rapid denaturation when taken out of their cellular environment. Hence, extensive biochemical studies of most human MPs in industrial/lab settings remain elusive.