Mission of the Protein Biophysics Department:
"To create a fundamental understanding of proteins structure and interactions, to understand biological findings from a structural perspective and to define routes to functional modification and adaption of proteins and their interacting partners as an aid in drug development."
The research of the Protein Biophyiscs department focusses on proteins domains involved in the regulation of ion transport and the regulation and assembly of active biological complexes. We use high-resolution NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography in conjunction with other biophysical techniques, such as isothermal titration calorimetry and surface-plamon resonance, to study their structure, dynamics and interactions.
The Protein Biophysics group is embedded in the IMM research school of the Radboud University Nijmegen and closely affiliated with the Nijmegen Center for Molecular Life Sciences (NCLMS).
Current research topics:
Regulation of Ca-transport (Mark Hilge, Geerten W. Vuister)
Ca2+ ions are crucial in many cellular processes, including neuronal response, muscle contraction, enzyme activity, gene transcription, cell death, proliferation and differentiation. The versatile but potentially dangerous intracellular Ca2+ message requires precise spatial and temporal regulation. We study ion transport across the membrane from a structural- and biophysical perspective, with the aim to explain biological functioning. More ..
Assembly of active biomolecular complexes (Geerten W. Vuister)
Protein interaction domains play essential roles in the transport, localization, assembly and functioning of multi-protein complexes. We study the structure function relationships of the five PDZ domains of the protein tyrosine phosphatase PTP-BL and the so-called PAH domains of the transcriptional co-repressor SIN3. More ..
Methodology: improved methods for structure generation
and validation
(Geerten W. Vuister, Jurgen Doreleijers, Gert Vriend,
CMBI)
NMR structures should
adequately reflect the experimental data and be reliable
in terms of overall and local quality. In this project
we develop tools that yield better structures and tools
that help to validate data and results. More ..
Contact Information
Dr. Geerten W. Vuister Office phone: +31-24-3618940. E-mail: g.vuister@science.ru.nlPostal address: Protein Biophysics 260, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Visitors: NCMLS Research building, room 0.25, Geert-Grooteplein 26-28, 6525 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands.