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Research

Our research focuses on G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), a family of membrane proteins that regulate intracellular signalling and therefore many physiological functions in the human body. We use a combination of cell-based signalling assays, mutagenesis, and data science to learn more about the function of GPCRs at single amino-acid resolution.

We have previously developed a data science framework to analyse how the residues of the β2-adrenergic receptor contribute to decoding a ligand signal and translating it into an intracellular response. We tested 412 mutants of the receptor for Gs activation in response to the endogenous ligand adrenaline. Together with residue-level structural information we highlighted an allosteric network of residues important for Gs activation in the receptor. Read our publication here.

Making many mutations separately can be quite time consuming. We have developed methods for cloning that increase the chances of getting the right sequence back after sequencing of a single clone. Increased success rates speed up the cloning process by reducing the number of cloning rounds and additionally save money on sequencing. To learn more, check out our publication on the cloning method  and our software suite.