Member Listing – Erik Procko

Needs update

Directed evolution and structure prediction of transmembrane proteins The Procko lab uses the tools of directed evolution to inform computational modeling of transmembrane proteins. We are particularly interested in G protein-coupled receptors with large extracellular domains for the recognition of small molecule ligands. Such receptors are abundantly expressed in the nervous system for the detection of neurotransmitters, pheromones, and sweet or savory tasting substances. The structures of individual domains for these receptors are known, but how they are arranged in a full receptor is unclear. We are developing experimental methods to map the sequence-fitness landscape of these receptors, which can be used to constrain conformational sampling during structure prediction of resting or active states.

protein design,directed evolution,transmembrane proteins,structure prediction