Official Project Description
Membrane transporters are important for enabling molecules to go in and out of cells.
What is interesting is that while transporters typically have set functions, they can also transport molecules that do not necessarily relate to their function or cellular purpose.
For example, drugs often hijack transporters to enter cells without necessarily resembling the molecules or metabolites which that target transporter normally transports.
The goal of this project is to see how exactly a typical membrane transporter recognizes and transports molecules that look different from one another.
We choose a class of sugar transporters that transports a variety of different types of substrates to satisfy this goal.
Findings from this study can be generalized for the design of molecules (e.g., drugs) specific to a given transporter and its general mechanism.