About

Mission

The Membrane Protein Expression Center (MPEC) develops and applies the latest innovative methods that yield structurally and functionally intact membrane proteins for subsequent drug development, structural, and functional characterization. The MPEC focuses especially on eukaryotic membrane proteins since they provide many major drug target proteins. The MPEC accepts target genes for expression in functional form from client laboratories. How to Apply  

Advisors

The MPEC maintains confidential agreements with the corporate sector, and maintains internal AND external advisory committees. Internal advisors include members of the UCSF community that can benefit most from the MPEC.

The external advisory board meets each 6 months to help guide optimal forefront development of the MPEC. These advisors always include at least two persons with high positions in local biotechnology industry, whose perspective will therefore include focus onto patent prospects, and the long range sustenance and fostering of the efforts of the MPEC as they become established.

An annual meeting for advisory boards is held at UCSF usually in early May/June. Applications to join the meeting should contact Suzan Betheil by calling (415) 514-4179. The 2005 meeting will be held on May 17th at the Mission Bay Campus. This year's meeting is internal to the MPEC and collaborators or clients who have an agreed contract with the MPEC.

Key Intellectual Property

Each of the Principle Investigators has played a key role in the discovery of major membrane protein biology, and/or in the development of procedures to understand membrane proteins at the molecular level.

Robert Stroud and his group have studied many membrane protein systems seeking characterizations and crystal structures. So far they have determined 5 high resolution structures of membrane proteins at atomic resolution.

Robert Edwards and his group have been key to discovery of the basis for vesicular transport that is key to neuronal signaling.

David Julius discovered and elaborated the pain sensing receptor class of membrane proteins (TRP channels).

Peter Walter is co-discoverer of the signal recognition particle (SRP) directed targeting of membrane proteins to the endoplasmic reticulum which he has vastly elaborated. Recently Walter and Stroud reported the structural mechanism of targeting membrane proteins to the endoplasmic reticulum membrane by the SRP-SR interaction (10). Walter has been a key investigator in the elaboration of the response to unfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum that leads to huge exxpansoin of the endoplasmic reticulum. These systems are ones that we intend to harness in the MPEC.

Daniel Minor has played a key role in understanding the regulation of potassium channels. He determined key structures that help elucidate the mechanisms of these channels. He has also developed schemes to test for membrane stability.

Ronald Kaback is world reknowned for his extensive studies of the Lactose permease. Over many years he has been a pioneer in membrane biology. Kaback recently was coauthor with Iwata of the structure determination of the Lac permease (11, 12). Thus his extensive mutational analysis of Lac permease is legendary and can now be interpreted.

Collaborator Schuldiner is a world expert in the in vitro expression of membrane proteins and has especially focused on the multi-drug exporter EmrE, for which he obtained an electron microscopic structure determination (13).

Collaborator Stahlberg is a world leader in electron and atomic force microscopy of membrane proteins (14). He beautifully elaborated the structures of the GlpF and other aquaporin channels in their membrane environment (15).

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