Publications related to Allosteric Optical Control of a Class B G-Protein-Coupled Receptor

From Sequence to Dynamics to Function: Computational Design of Allostery and Ligand Selectivity in G-Protein Coupled Receptors

The phenomenon of allostery, a general property in proteins that has been heralded as "the second secret of life" remains elusive to our understanding and even more challenging to incorporate into protein design. One example of allosteric proteins with gre ...

EPFL2024

Computational drug development for membrane protein targets

Henning Paul-Julius Stahlberg, Pierre Vogel, Shuguang Yuan, Dongchun Ni, Babatunde Edukpe Ekundayo

The application of computational biology in drug development for membrane protein targets has experienced a boost from recent developments in deep learning-driven structure prediction, increased speed and resolution of structure elucidation, machine learni ...

2024

Antibodies expand the scope of angiotensin receptor pharmacology

Patrick Daniel Barth, Shuhao Zhang

G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are key regulators of human physiology and are the targets of many small-molecule research compounds and therapeutic drugs. While most of these ligands bind to their target GPCR with high affinity, selectivity is often l ...

2024

Drug Screening in C. elegans to identify new pharmacological mitochondrial stress inducers

Amélia Lalou

Mitochondria are essential organelles participating in numerous cellular functions, including energy harvesting, regulation of homeostasis and apoptosis. Changes in mitochondrial number, morphology, and function not only impact cellular metabolism but also ...

EPFL2024

Cyclic Peptides for Drug Development

Christian Heinis, Xinjian Ji, Alexander Lund Nielsen

Cyclic peptides are fascinating molecules abundantly found in nature and exploited as molecular format for drug development as well as other applications, ranging from research tools to food additives. Advances in peptide technologies made over many years ...

Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH2024

SLC25A46 promotes mitochondrial fission and mediates resistance to lipotoxic stress in INS-1E insulin-secreting cells

Loïc Dayon, Andreas Wiederkehr

Glucose sensing in pancreatic D-cells depends on oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondria-derived signals that promote insulin secretion. Using mass spectrometry-based phosphoproteo-mics to search for downstream effectors of glucose-dependent signal tran ...

COMPANY BIOLOGISTS LTD2023

The predictive capacity of in vitro preclinical models to evaluate drugs for the treatment of retinoblastoma

Paul Joseph Dyson, Irina Sinenko, Roland Christopher Turnell-Ritson

Retinoblastoma is a rare childhood cancer of the eye. Of the small number of drugs are used to treat retinoblastoma, all have been repurposed from drugs developed for other conditions. In order to find drugs or drug combinations better suited to the improv ...

ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD2023

Microtubule-mediated GLUT4 trafficking is disrupted in insulin-resistant skeletal muscle

Martinus Gijs, Raphaël Etienne Jean Trouillon, Martin Rainer Wohlwend

Microtubules serve as tracks for long-range intracellular trafficking of glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4), but the role of this process in skeletal muscle and insulin resistance is unclear. Here, we used fixed and live-cell imaging to study microtubule-based ...

eLIFE SCIENCES PUBL LTD2023

Towards Uncovering the Mechanisms of Electrophile Sensing and Signaling

Chloé Rogg

Native reactive electrophile species (RES) such as 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE) act as cellular signals through covalent modification of kinetically-privileged electrophile sensor proteins. Research efforts in the field focus mainly on identifying these sensor p ...

EPFL2023

AMP-activated Protein Kinase (AMPK): New molecular insights and novel downstream targets

Katyayanee Neopane

AMP-activated Protein Kinase (AMPK) is a central regulator of energy homeostasis and a promising drug target for metabolic disorders. It exists as complexes of three subunits, a catalytic alpha, and two regulatory beta and gamma subunits. The regulation of ...

EPFL2022

The role of nicotinamide riboside metabolism in pancreatic beta cells

Angélique Satoko Cercillieux

Pancreatic beta cells play a major role in the regulation of glucose homeostasis by secreting insulin in response to elevated blood glucose levels. A gradual deterioration of functional beta cell mass and the chronic elevation of blood glucose levels are c ...

EPFL2022

In-Cell Quantification of Drugs by Magic-Angle Spinning Dynamic Nuclear Polarization NMR

David Lyndon Emsley, Pierrick Berruyer, Andrea Bertarello

The determination of intracellular drug concentrations can provide a better understanding of the drug function and efficacy. Ideally, this should be performed nondestructively, with no modification of either the drug or the target, and with the capability ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2022

Repurposed drug combination via high-throughput screening and dual drug delivery system development for the treatment of retinoblastoma

Po-Jen Tseng

The goal of retinoblastoma (RB) treatment is to save the child's life, eyes and functional vision, with that order of priority. The management of RB is complex and involves strategically chosen methods of surgical enucleation, external beam radiotherapy, i ...

EPFL2022

Type 2 diabetes disrupts circadian orchestration of lipid metabolism and membrane fluidity in human pancreatic islets

Howard Riezman, Jonathan Paz Montoya

Recent evidence suggests that circadian clocks ensure temporal orchestration of lipid homeostasis and play a role in pathophysiology of metabolic diseases in humans, including type 2 diabetes (T2D). Nevertheless, circadian regulation of lipid metabolism in ...

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE2022

Rational design of protein switches: applications in synthetic biology and cancer immunotherapy

Sailan Shui

Synthetic biology aims to engineer cells as miniature biological devices to sense, process, and respond to exogenous stimuli. Protein switches are designed to sense and respond to various molecular queues in a fast and specific manner, which fits the requi ...

EPFL2022

Novel High-Throughput Fluorescence-Based Assay for the Identification of Nematocidal Compounds That Target the Blood-Feeding Pathway

Gerardo Turcatti, Marc Chambon, Nicola Harris, Anthony Marchand, Tiffany Babette Angélique Bouchery, Mati André Marie Moyat

Hookworm infections cause a neglected tropical disease (NTD) affecting ~740 million people worldwide, principally those living in disadvantaged communities. Infections can cause high morbidity due to their impact on nutrient uptake and their need to feed o ...

2022

Investigation of physiological roles of AMPK-activated protein kinase y3

Philipp Jurijvic Rhein

Clinical trials have shown that direct activators of an evolutionary-conserved metabolic sensor, AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), are beneficial in preventing/treating a range of metabolic disorders, including type 2 diabetes. These activators, includi ...

EPFL2021

Pancreatic Sirtuin 3 Deficiency Promotes Hepatic Steatosis by Enhancing 5-Hydroxytryptamine Synthesis in Mice With Diet-Induced Obesity

Kristina Schoonjans, Johan Auwerx

Sirtuin 3 (SIRT3) is a protein deacetylase regulating beta-cell function through inhibiting oxidative stress in obese and diabetic mice, but the detailed mechanism and potential effect of beta-cell-specific SIRT3 on metabolic homeostasis, and its potential ...

AMER DIABETES ASSOC2021

Reprogramming G Protein-Coupled Receptor Structure, Function And Signaling By Computational Design

Dániel Kéri

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are 7-transmembrane alpha-helical integral membrane proteins on which cells heavily rely to receive information regarding their external environment. These receptors are able to transfer information to intracellular down ...

EPFL2021

The role of metal ions in G protein-coupled receptor signalling and drug discovery

Horst Vogel, Shuguang Yuan, Xueying Wang

Metal ions, such as Na+, Mg2+, Ca2+, and Zn2+, are highly abundant in biological systems. For many G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), metal ions, especially Na+, have been found to stabilize the receptors' inactivate state preventing receptor activation. ...

WILEY2021