# A System for the Large‐scale Production of Membrane Proteins

> **NIH NIH R43** · CHESAPEAKE GENOMIC SYSTEMS LLC · 2022 · $239,783

## Abstract

Membrane proteins play a fundamental and critical role in cellular processes. Their direct link to
human disease as well as their key role in signal transduction, has made many membrane proteins the
foremost targets for chemotherapeutic intervention with more than 50% of all drugs designed to modulate the
activity of this class of proteins. Despite this central role in human health, the biochemical, functional and
structural properties of membrane proteins remain poorly understood. This is partially due to the inherent
challenges of isolating membrane proteins in sufficient quantities and levels of purity needed for biochemical
characterization. The traditional approach of using heterologous protein expression systems to synthesize
recombinant membrane proteins has been marginally successful. No one system has emerged as universally
applicable and the process of producing recombinant membrane proteins remains one of trial and error. To
address this bottleneck in the study of membrane proteins and in the development of new treatment options,
we have proposed the use of the thylakoid membrane system of the unicellular green algae Chlamydomonas as
a more suitable platform for the production of recombinant membrane proteins. The proposed research aims
to demonstrate the feasibility of using such a system by building a set of specialized vectors that direct the
expression of membrane proteins to the thylakoid membrane and to test the utility of the system using two
medically relevant membrane proteins.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10707723
- **Project number:** 7R43GM137735-02
- **Recipient organization:** CHESAPEAKE GENOMIC SYSTEMS LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** Haibo Bai
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $239,783
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2022-10-01 → 2024-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10707723

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10707723, A System for the Large‐scale Production of Membrane Proteins (7R43GM137735-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10707723. Licensed CC0.

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