IDbodies: Identification of proteins in situ for cryo-ET structure determination
Novo Nordisk Foundation
University of Aarhus
To understand the functions of proteins, it is important to understand their three-dimensional structures. Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) enables the investigation of proteins in their natural environment within the cell. The main limitation of cryo-ET is that only large and rigid complexes can be uniquely identified, as these provide a sufficient signal-to-noise ratio within the dense background of the densely packed cellular environment. With this project, we will develop “IDbodies”, a novel class of large and rigid scaffolds that will target the intracellular proteins of interest directly, making them detectable and thus enabling structural investigation using cryo-ET. Using our developed IDbodies, we will determine the first structure of a transcription factor in situ to demonstrate the broad application of this new technology.
Research / Projects / Award