美國Scripps研究所最近獲得了聯(lián)邦政府關于研究膜蛋白結構特征的基金，它于8月25號宣布將與世界知名的生物科學技術公司Invitrogen的研發(fā)人員合作對膜蛋白的表達及其特征進行研究,。

        Invitrogen公司研發(fā)部門的高級副總裁Claude  Benchimol表示對于能與膜蛋白研究前沿領域的專家合作感到非常高興,。目前大約有50％藥物的靶標分子都是膜蛋白，同時也是研究時經(jīng)常遇到的難點,。它們以可溶形式表達進而進行構象分析是十分困難的,。

        根據(jù)合作的協(xié)議，Scripps研究所和Invitrogen將共同發(fā)展研究膜蛋白的技術。同時Invitrogen公司有權對這些技術在研究領域和藥物篩選領域進行商業(yè)化,。

CARLSBAD ---- Invitrogen Corp. has teamed up with The Scripps Research Institute to tackle one of the toughest problems in drug research: how to get drugs to protein "targets" on the surface membranes of cells.

These membrane proteins are of interest because they can be used to precisely direct therapy, said Arun Fotedar, a professor at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in La Jolla. For example, Biogen Idec's blockbuster drug Rituxan attaches itself to a membrane protein found only on certain white blood cells involved in diseases, causing their destruction.

If the collaboration succeeds, Invitrogen will be in a strong position to help other biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies develop drugs, said Paul Predki, vice president of Invitrogen's protein microarray center.

But it's extremely hard to work with these membrane proteins in living cells, Predki said. The proteins must be dissolved, extracted from cells and crystallized so their structure can be determined. The trouble is, these proteins dissolve in fat, not water, making crystallization difficult.

Carlsbad-based Invitrogen has developed a reliable method of making the membrane proteins outside of cells, Predki said, and the laboratory of Geoffrey Chang at Scripps has expertise in crystallization. Combined, their technologies show promise in making it easier to understand the proteins' structure, Predki said, so a potential drug can be "tweaked" for maximum effectiveness.

Invitrogen did not release financial details of the collaboration, but spokesman Greg Geissman said the company is paying for two postdoctoral researchers in Chang's lab.

Scientists estimate that membrane proteins make up more than half of all molecular targets. However, out of 80,000 proteins whose structures have been determined, fewer than 100 are membrane proteins, said Toni Kudlicki, a manager in Invitrogen's proteomics group.