Quantitative & Chemical Biology Program at Vanderbilt

Jens Meiler lab

I am studying how the direct binding of cholesterol modifies functional aspects of membrane proteins. Previous research focused on cholesterol, has suggested that class A GPCRs contain a consensus sequence that cholesterol binds to. I would like to expand upon this and gain insight on the mechanistic implications for cholesterol interactions across class, type, and subtype of membrane proteins.  I want to characterize these binding sites by developing methodology using Rosetta that can accurately recognize interfacial grooves for these direct cholesterol interactions and adequately differentiate viable binding modes. These predictions will be experimentally validated with NMR fluorescence assays.