RNA doesn’t just carry genetic instructions—it also interacts with proteins to regulate nearly every aspect of gene expression, from splicing to translation. When those interactions go awry, the consequences can be devastating. In myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), the most common adult-onset muscular dystrophy, a toxic RNA repeat expansion hijacks a critical protein called MBNL1, […]
G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are among the most important drug targets in human biology, mediating signals across nearly every physiological system. But not all GPCRs are equally easy to study—especially those that interact with peptide ligands. These ligands tend to be flexible, fast-moving, and hard to trace in live cells by standard methods. Historically, radioligand binding […]
Monitoring and quantifying drug-target binding in a live-cell setting is important to bridging the gap between in vitro assay results and the phenotypic outcome, and therefore represents a crucial step in target validation and drug development (1). The NanoBRET™ Target Engagement (TE) assay is a biophysical technique that enables quantitative assessment of small molecule-target protein […]
Updated November 21, 2023 In the life of a cell, phosphorylation of proteins is an everyday occurrence. The transfer of a phosphate group, from a molecule such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to a specific functional group on a protein, is catalyzed by a protein kinase. The vast majority of protein kinases are classified as either […]
Recently, Gordon et al. published an atlas of protein:protein interactions of all proposed SARS-CoV-2 proteins expressed individually in HEK 293 cells (Table 1). The study tagged each of the viral proteins with an epitope tag and performed a pull-down of the expressed protein followed by trypsin digestion and mass spec analysis, a process referred to as affinity purification–mass spec analysis. The […]
GPCRs G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are a large family of receptors that traverse the cell membrane seven times. Functionally, GPCRs are extremely diverse, yet they contain highly conserved structural regions. GPCRs respond to a variety of signals, from small molecules to peptides and large proteins. Many GPCRs are involved in disease pathways and, not surprisingly, […]
NanoBRET™ TE Intracellular Kinase Assays are the first biophysical method to enable the quantitative determination of compound potency/affinity for specific kinase targets inside live cells.
This is a guest post from Katarzyna Dubiel, marketing intern in Cellular Analysis and Proteomics. “The objective of my experiment was to test the NanoBRET™ assay as if I was a customer, independent of the research and development team which develops the assay.” Designing and implementing a new assay can be a challenging process with […]
I confess that I struggled through biophysics, and my Bertil Hille textbook Ion Channels of Excitable Membranes lies neglected somewhere in a box in my basement (I have not tossed it into the recycle bin—I can’t bear too, I spent too much time bonding with that book in graduate school). My struggles in that graduate […]
Yesterday my fellow blogger, Kari, posted a review of the ACS Chemical Biology paper describing a new BRET platform for analyzing protein-protein interactions. If you are interested in studying induction and inhibition of protein interactions in real time, take a look at the infographic below to learn how to develop a NanoBRET™ Assay to monitor your […]
