Research
Structure and Mechanism of Solute Carrier (SLC) Transporters
SLC transporters are the targets for many therapeutics and they often play a major role in drug pharmacokinetics. Understanding the mechanisms by which SLC transporters shuttle and move ions, drugs, and natural compounds across membranes is of fundamental importance. Because of the technical difficulties in working with membrane proteins our mechanistic understanding is very limited. The goal of my research is to investigate the alternating access-mechanism of solute transporters for sugars and ions, which are critical to cell homeostasis and their dysfunction is associated with human diseases, such as cancer and diabetes. To achieve this we combine crystal and cryo EM structures with biochemical and biophysical techniques. These goals are facilitated by the development of novel methods to aid functional and structural investigation of SLC transporters.
Popular descriptions of our work on transporters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwW86e3tFv4
https://www.svd.se/genombrott-kan-leda-till-ny-malariamedicin
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00148-8
Current group members
Magnus Claesson, Lab Manager
Dohwan Ahn, Postdoc
Roman Fudim, Postdoc
Ashutosh Gulati, Postdoc
Rei Matsuoka, Postdoc
Rachel North, Postdoc
Laura Orellana, Postdoc
Jan Skerle, Postdoc
Albert Suades, Postdoc
Hyunku Yeo, Postdoc
Yurie Chatzikyriakidou, PhD Student
Sukkyeong Jung, PhD Student
Surabhi Kokane, PhD Student
Sarah McComas, PhD Student
Pascal Meier, PhD Student
Iven Winkelmann, PhD Student
Selected Publications
Qureshi A, Suades A, Matsuoka R, Brock L, McComas S, Nji E, Orellana L, Claesson M, Delemotte L, Drew D
The molecular basis for sugar import in malaria parasites
Nature. 578, 321-325 (2020).
Nji E, Gulati A, Qureshi A. Coincon, M, Drew D.
Structural basis for the delivery of activated sialic acid into Golgi lumen.
Nature Structure & Molecular Biology 26, 415-423 (2019).
Nji E, Chatzikyriakidou Y, Landreh M, Drew D.
An engineered thermal shift screen reveals specific lipid preferences of eukaryotic and prokaryotic membrane proteins
Nature Communications 9, 4253 (2018).
Gupta G, Donlan J.A, Hopper J, Uzdavinys P, Landreh M, Struwe W, Drew D, Stansfeld P, Robinson C.V.
The role of interfacial lipids in stabilising membrane protein oligomers.
Nature 541, 421-423 (2017).
Drew D, Boudker O.
Shared Molecular Mechanisms of Membrane Transporters.
Annu. Reviews. in Biochem. 85(1) (2016).
Coincon M, Uzdavinys P, Nji E, Dotson D.L, Winkelmann I, Abdul-Hussein S, Cameron A.D, Beckstein O, Drew D.
Crystal structures reveal the molecular basis of ion-translocation in sodium/proton antiporters.
Nature Structure & Molecular Biology 23, 248-55 (2016).
Nomura N, Verdon G, Kang HJ, Shimamura T, Nomura Y, Sonoda Y, Hussien S, Qureshi A.A, Coincon M, Sato Y, Abe H, Nakada-Nakura Y, Hino T, Arakawa T, Kusano-Arai O, Iwanari H, Unno H, Murata T, Kobayashi T, Hamakubo T, Kasahara M, Iwata S, Drew D.
Structure and mechanism of the mammalian fructose transporter GLUT5.
Nature, 526, 397-401 (2015).
Lee C, Kang HJ, von Ballmoos C, Newstead S, Uzdavinys P, Dotson D, Iwata S, Beckstein O, Cameron A.D, Drew D.
A two-domain elevator mechanism for sodium/proton antiport.
Nature, 501, 573-7 (2013).
Hu NJ, Iwata S, Cameron A.D, Drew D.
Crystal structure of a bacterial homologue of the bile acid sodium symporter ASBT.
Nature 478, 408-11 (2011).
Funding Sources
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