Investigation of native lipid-nanodisc environments for ligand binding and G-protein recruitment at Family B G-protein-coupled receptors
Family B1 G‑protein‑coupled receptors (GPCRs), including the calcitonin gene‑related peptide receptor and parathyroid hormone 1 receptor, play pivotal roles in human physiology, mediating cardiovascular, skeletal, and neuroendocrine regulation. Their signalling‑competent conformations rely on native lipid interactions, which are often disrupted when receptors are extracted from the natural cell membrane environment. SMA‑based copolymers offer a detergent‑free approach to membrane solubilisation, and this work investigates how polymer chemistry affects the preservation of active‑state pharmacology in Family B1 GPCRs, comparing SMA 2000, DIBMA‑12, and the electroneutral sulfo‑DIBMA.
I am an Assistant Professor at Coventry University, UK. My group investigates how GPCRs work at a molecular level, with emphasis on Family A and B receptors. We combine molecular pharmacology, biochemical approaches, and copolymer nanodiscs to dissect ligand binding, receptor activation, and macromolecular interactions.
Barry D. Bruce is Professor of Biochemistry and Cellular & Molecular Biology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with joint appointments in Microbiology and Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering. His research centers on the structure, function, and assembly of bioenergetic membrane protein complexes, with particular emphasis on photosynthetic systems in their native lipid environments and on membrane protein biophysics. His laboratory has been at the forefront of developing and applying detergent-free approaches for membrane protein isolation, including SMALPs and related native membrane nanoparticle systems, and has contributed to the synthesis and functional application of novel copolymers for extracting and stabilizing membrane protein complexes directly from native membranes. A major focus of his work is the isolation and characterization of Photosystem I (PSI) in near-native states, providing new insights into lipid-protein interactions, cofactor organization, and membrane-dependent photosynthetic function. He was the founding organizer of the 1st Conference on Native Membrane Nanoparticles in Knoxville, Tennessee, and is one of the SMALP Network Co-Directors. Dr. Bruce has authored over 120 peer-reviewed publications, holds three U.S. patents, is an AAAS Fellow, and is the Founder and President of the North American Photosynthesis Conference Association (NAPCA). His current work bridges membrane biochemistry, protein biophysics, polymer chemistry, and structural biology to advance native membrane nanoparticles as a transformative platform for studying complex biological systems.
Michael Erkelenz is Head of Chemistry at Cube Biotech GmbH in Monheim am Rhein, Germany, where he leads the development and production of copolymer- and agarose-based products. His work focuses on copolymer technologies for membrane protein research and the development of automation-ready solutions for protein purification and screening. A key emphasis is translating polymer chemistry and biofunctionalization into practical tools for membrane protein solubilization, stabilization, and downstream applications. He holds a master’s degree in Medical Biology and a doctorate in Physical Chemistry from the University of Duisburg-Essen, where his research encompassed gold nanoparticle synthesis, bioconjugation, and DNA origami-based platforms for investigating protein–protein interactions.
Dr. Youzhong Guo is an Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry in the School of Pharmacy at Virginia Commonwealth University. He earned his Ph.D. in Pharmacy from the University of Texas at Austin in 2010 under the supervision of Drs. Christian Whitman and Marvin Hackert. He subsequently completed postdoctoral training with Dr. Wayne Hendrickson at Columbia University in 2016 before joining the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Dr. Guo is an accomplished structural biologist and medicinal chemist whose research focuses on membrane protein structural biology and the development of enabling technologies. His work has been published in leading scientific journals, including Science, PNAS, Nature Communications, and Chemical Science. His notable contributions include the development of the NCMN system for high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) analysis of membrane proteins in their native membrane lipid environments and the discovery that mitochondrial TSPO functions as a cholesterol-dependent protoporphyrin IX oxygenase.
Research articles
1. Advances in native cell membrane nanoparticles system. Current opinion in structural biology, 94, 103130 (2025) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbi.2025.103130
2. Cholesterol-dependent enzyme activity of human TSPO1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 122, e2323045122 (2025) https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2323045122
Kallol Gupta is an Associate Professor in the Department of Cell Biology,Yale School of Medicine. He received Ph.D. from Molecular Biophysics Unit at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, followed by postdoctoral research at University of Oxford as a 1851 Royal Commission Fellow. He established independent laboratory at Yale in 2019. His laboratory develops chemical biology tools, coupled with innovative mass spectrometric technologies to investigate the molecular organization in cellular membranes. Integrating native mass spectrometry, proteomics, lipidomics, CryoEM, polymer chemistry, and complementary approaches, his research seeks to understand how functional molecular assemblies of proteins and lipids regulate human health and disease.
Rosa Jelerud Perez holds a Master’s degree in Metallurgy from the National University of Science and Technology, Moscow, Russia.
PhD in Materials Science from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden, including published scientific papers on thermodynamic modelling, theoretical and experimental work.
Rosa has acquired experience in a wide range of characterization and measurement techniques, including scanning electron microscopy, light optical microscopy, physisorption and chemisorption analysis, laser diffraction, and dynamic light scattering. Currently working as International Sales Manager at Particle Metrix GmbH and focused on nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA)
Sandro Keller is Full Professor of Biophysics and Head of the Biophysics Division at the University of Graz, Austria. His research integrates biophysics, physical chemistry, and molecular biology to study membrane proteins and develop innovative membrane mimetics. His group is pioneering native nanodiscs for extracting membrane proteins in their lipid-bilayer environments, fluorescence-based microfluidic methods to quantify protein–protein interactions, and computational approaches to predicting protein allostery.
After receiving his Ph.D. from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany, he led an independent research group at the Leibniz Institute of Molecular Pharmacology in Berlin before joining the University of Kaiserslautern, where he also served as Dean of the Faculty of Biology. His awards include the Stig Sunner Memorial Award from CALCON and the Breast Cancer Research Award from the Austrian Cancer Aid.
Brian (BL) received his B.S. degree in chemistry 2003 from the University of North Georgia. He then obtained his Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin working under Prof. C. Grant Willson and was co-advised by Prof. Christopher W. Bielawski. After receiving his Ph.D. in 2009, BL pursued his postdoctoral studies at Cornell University under the supervision of Prof. Geoffrey W. Coates. He began his independent career at the University of Tennessee – Knoxville (UTK) in 2011 and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2018, and then to Professor in 2023. His research and teaching efforts have been recognized through the Ffrancon Williams Endowed Faculty Award, an Army Research Office Young Investigator Award, a Department of Energy Early Career Research Program Award, and he was named the Gleb Mamantov Professor of Chemistry in 2020. BL also became the Associate Head for Graduate Programs in 2025.
Naomi Pollock is a membrane protein biochemist based at Aston University in the United Kingdom. She completed her DPhil at the University of Oxford (U.K.) on purification and structural analysis of human membrane proteins. Her post-doctoral career took her to the University of Manchester to join an international consortium devoted to the study of the cystic fibrosis protein CFTR. Later she moved between the Universities of Birmingham and Warwick developing applications for SMALP particles and working closely with collaborators from industry. The common thread through this has been membrane proteins and, since 2015, the use of amphipathic polymers to study them.
In 2024 Naom was appointed as a Lecturer in Biosciences at Aston University and joined the Aston Institute for Membrane Excellence as an associate member. She is establishing a research group with a focus on the biophysical properties of proteins in different membrane mimetics, and the effects of proteins on polymer-lipid particle (PLP) stability. She is co-lead of a U.K-based network IMPALA-NET, which seeks to overcome challenges with the adoption of amphipathic co-polymers in membrane protein science and to connect researchers interested in membrane proteins and lipids.
Alice’s research interests lie in elucidating the mechanistic functional details of membrane proteins, and the interactions between membrane proteins and their lipid environment. In recent years she has played a major role in developing the polymer lipid particle approach for membrane protein extraction, purification, structural and functional characterization.
Alice obtained her DPhil from the University of Oxford in 2004, then undertook postdoctoral research at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario and the University of Warwick, before starting her independent research group at Aston University in 2010. She is a founding member of the newly established Aston Institute for Membrane Excellence (AIME).
DNA nanotechnology based tools and materials for applications in biophysics, structural and molecular biology; Mechanics of tightly bent DNA
