# Nanoscale Approaches to Understanding Membrane Protein Function

> **NIH NIH R35** · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN · 2024 · $716,877

## Abstract

Project Summary / Abstract
Biological membranes are needed by all life forms. These lipid bilayers separate the inside and outside of the
cell and provide the separation between internal compartments. As such, they are the site for cellular
recognition and communication and provide the home to a host of proteins that mediate signaling, catalysis,
the generation and transduction of energy and the import and export of molecules. Despite this central role in
life, membranes and membrane proteins have often been difficult to study using the normal tools of
biochemistry and molecular biology. Membrane proteins display altered activity or are inactive when removed
from their native lipid environment. Likewise, revealing the fundamental molecular recognition events involved
in forming complex multi-component architectures at the membrane surface requires new methodologies.
Nanodiscs, self-assembled nanoscale lipid bilayers solubilized by an amphipathic scaffold protein developed in
our laboratory, have served to enable multiple new discoveries in these arenas. Under continued MIRA support,
we will use the Nanodisc system to provide novel biochemical and biophysical paths to the realization of the
molecular mechanisms involved in signaling, hormone biosynthesis, drug metabolism, the epitaxial
presentation of oligomeric viral antigens and the membrane proteins of the synaptic junction. Systems under
investigation include: The human cytochrome P450 systems involved liver and adrenal metabolism; the Ras
GTPases involved in cancer signaling; vinculin, a critical component in the control of cellular migration, the
proteins of the synaptic junction that bind oligomeric peptides, the ability of Nanodiscs to order complex
oligomeric surface antigens and the biophysics of Nanodisc assembly.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10813889
- **Project number:** 5R35GM118145-09
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
- **Principal Investigator:** STEPHEN G. SLIGAR
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $716,877
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-06-01 → 2026-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10813889

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10813889, Nanoscale Approaches to Understanding Membrane Protein Function (5R35GM118145-09). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10813889. Licensed CC0.

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