Research Highlights

Dr. Kasia Tych

Transmembrane transporters are essential in the maintenance of cellular homeostasis. As the gatekeepers of cells, such proteins are also of great interest as therapeutic targets. Transmembrane proteins are highly dynamic, undergoing large structural rearrangements as part of their functional cycles and exist in a crowded lipid environment. Although recent advances in structural biology have provided highly valuable atomic-resolution snapshots of transmembrane proteins, the impact of the biophysical properties of their native environments on the molecular details of their dynamics, and therefore function, remain elusive. In order to understand the functions of transporters, we need to be able to observe them in action using time-resolved experimental methods, in well-controlled environments mimicking those found in living cells. In the Kasia Tych’s lab, we are working towards this illustration: studying transmembrane transporters using optical tweezers (image credit: Ana Radu) goal bottom-up, by gradually increasing the complexity of the environments in which we study the dynamics of transmembrane transporters.