Students
How would you feel
about contributing to one of the most explosive, challenging and exciting areas of scientific research?
The cell membrane harbors more than 7,000 membrane proteins, which regulate the flow of molecules and electrical information. Ion channels are an important class of membrane proteins that are the target for a wide variety of drugs.
Yet our knowledge about structure and function is currently limited to 27 X-ray crystal structures of human membrane proteins. These structures reveal the molecular architecture at a resolution of each single atom in the protein.
Although membrane proteins are notoriously difficult to purify and crystallize, several technological advancements have paved the way for the elucidation of these challenging drug targets!
Our lab
is a great place to get acquainted with a wide variety of different techniques we use to obtain X-ray crystal structures and electrophysiological data of ion channel h
omologs. We use tools of bioinformatics, cDNA cloning, PCR and mutagenesis to engineer the proteins we express in bacteria and insect cells. Next, we take advantage of Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) to track our proteins along the process of expression and purification using chromatographic techniques. This often yields spectacular views of large cell culture preps lighting up *green* upon exposure to UV-light!
Finally, we attempt to grow protein crystals, which are symmetric assemblies of millions of protein molecules. These are transported to a synchrotron where highly intense X-ray beams are used for measurement of diffraction patterns of crystals and determination of the 3-dimensional protein structure.
Projects
that students have pursued in recent years:
- crystallization of clinically used drugs in complex with their target receptor
- mutagenesis to map important sites of interaction in the receptor binding pocket
- development of methods to facilitate ion channel crystallization
If successful,
students are given the opportunity to present their data at international conferences (past presentations were at the University of Cambridge - UK and Marseille - FR, next year: Milano!). Also, productive students have been offered paid internships after their initial training!
Interested?
Get in touch NOW with chris.ulens AT med.kuleuven.be
Is considered as a major plus if you(*)
- like sushi
- know something about wine and vinification
- obtained excellent grades
- prefer to face the fear of the unknown instead of not knowing at all
- have obsessive-compulsive tendencies toward scientific progress
- have an explosive drive to work, combined with the precision of a Swiss watch
- worship Gregory House, M.D.
(*) Any resemblance to a real person in the lab, living or dead, is *not* purely coincidental.
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