NIH grant funds cell membrane study

Abraham M. Lenhoff, UD Gore Professor of Chemical Engineering

12:08 p.m., Nov. 10, 2005--The National Institutes of Heath (NIH) has awarded the University of Delaware a five-year, $10.4 million grant to study membrane protein production and characterization, a field that is of growing importance in biomolecular research.

The interdisciplinary grant was awarded through the NIH Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) program and will fund research “motivated by the disparity between the critical role of membrane proteins in biology and the well-recognized deficiencies in production and structural characterization of these molecules,” Abraham M. Lenhoff, UD Gore Professor of Chemical Engineering and principal investigator, said.

Also participating in the project are Eric Kaler, Elizabeth Inez Kelley Professor of Chemical Engineering and dean of the College of Engineering; Anne Skaja Robinson, associate professor of chemical engineering; Millicent M. Ow Sullivan, who is expected to join the chemical engineering faculty in 2006; Brian J. Bahnson, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry; Clifford Robinson, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry; Patricia DeLeon, professor of biological sciences; Ulhas Naik, associate professor of biological sciences; Jung-Youn Lee, assistant professor of plant molecular biology; and Yu-Sung Wu, research fellow at the Delaware Biotechnology Institute (DBI).

Membrane proteins are found in the membranes on the outside of individual cells and are important because they provide a means of communication between the cell and its surroundings.

“Proteins are the workhorses of biological systems,” Lenhoff said. “Because membrane proteins play an important role in communications, they can affect the internal functioning of the cell and so provide a good handle for intervening in the cell’s functioning and operation.”

The scope of the research covers a spectrum from membrane protein overexpression, solubilization and purification, to structure-function studies based on crystallographic characterization, to predominantly functional studies of biomedically significant or related membrane proteins, Lenhoff said.

The membrane proteins to be studied span a variety of structural and functional characteristics, including receptors, adhesion proteins and interfacial enzymes, Lenhoff said, and their relevance to several biomedically important conditions, including cancer, spermatogenesis and chemical warfare, will be examined.

The UD project is unusual, Lenhoff said, because it is considering both the production of membrane proteins and their characterization. He added that the strength of the program lies in the distinctive expertise of the faculty involved, and in the diversity of topics that they will explore in their individual subprojects within the overall common theme of the program.

The project will have a strong interdisciplinary flavor and as the initial subprojects acquire independent support, the scope of the research activities will be expanded by complementary research within several additional active membrane protein research laboratories, he said.

The core facilities for membrane protein production, structural biology and bioimaging are closely integrated with the substantial infrastructure in place for biomolecular research at UD and DBI.

Article by Neil Thomas
Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson

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