Biosketch

Prof. dr. Dirk Slotboom

Dirk Slotboom was trained as a chemist (MSc degree 1994), obtained a PhD in microbiology in 2001, and was postdoc at the Medical Research Council (Cambridge, UK) before starting a research group at GBB in Groningen in 2004. He combines biophysical (structural biology, microscopy, spectroscopy), biochemical and microbiological methods to study the mechanisms of solute transport across membranes, with a focus of secondary-active (ion/coupled) glutamate/aspartate transporters, and primary active ATP-binding cassette transporters. He pioneered the discovery and study of a novel and widespread class of bacterial vitamin transporters. His group focusses on families of proteins that show unique dynamical behavior in lipid bilayers, which will lead to generic insight in the physical chemistry of membranes. In collaboration with organic chemists, his lab develops small molecules that inhibit the transport activity of bacterial transporters, with the aim to discover novel bactericidal or bacteriostatic compounds.

Three top publications 2017-2022

1. Thangaratnarajah C, Rheinberger J, Paulino C & Slotboom DJ (2021) Insights into the bilayer-mediated toppling mechanism of a folate-specific ECF transporter by cryo-EM. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA 118(34): ….; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2105014118

This work is exemplary of the research line focusing on ATP driven bacterial vitamin transporters, structural biology and the intricate interplay between lipid-bilayer and a membrane protein.

2. Rempel S, Gati C, Nijland M, Thangaratnarajah C, Karyolaimos A, de Gier JW, Guskov A & Slotboom DJ (2020) A mycobacterial ABC transporter mediates the uptake of hydrophilic compounds. Nature 3(W1), 1–4; DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2072-8

This work links to the efforts to gain insight in membrane transporters from pathogens. It also is a major breakthrough in the understanding of membrane transport mechanisms, where protein architecture evolved in such a way that multiple structurally unrelated hydrophilic compound can be transported by the same protein.

3. Arkhipova V, Guskov A & Slotboom DJ (2020) Structural ensemble of a glutamate transporter homologue in lipid nanodisc environment. Nature Communications 11(1): 998–xx9; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14834-8

This work is one of the first examples of the use of single particle cryo-EM to study the structural ensemble of a secondary active transporter under turnover conditions. It provided insight in the coupling mechanism and independent movements of domains leading to transport.