A novel fusion tool to enable G protein-coupled receptor structure determination
Nita R. Shah, Mathieu Oosterlaken, Claudine Bisson, Mattia Bertinelli, Alicia M. Churchill-Angus, Andrew Hutchin, Jola Kopec, Vadim Kotov, Ciaran R. McFarlane, Erika Griss Pascualli, Ana Pavic, Matthias Zebisch, Cédric Fiez-Vandal, Edoardo Fabini, Stéphanie Duclos · 2026
Read A novel fusion tool to enable G protein-coupled receptor structure determination by Nita R. Shah, Mathieu Oosterlaken, Claudine Bisson, Mattia Bertinelli, Alicia M. Churchill-Angus, Andrew Hutchin, Jola Kopec, Vadim Kotov, Ciaran R. McFarlane, Erika Griss Pascualli, Ana Pavic, Matthias Zebisch, Cédric Fiez-Vandal, Edoardo Fabini, Stéphanie Duclos (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13224925.txt.
Description
Nita Shah and co-authors design a helper protein for imaging hormone receptors in a 2026 study. G protein-coupled receptors are top drug targets, yet their shapes are hard to capture. Cryo-electron microscopy needs a clear marker mass attached to these small, soft proteins.
The team mined a structure database for natural proteins to fuse into a receptor loop. Eight candidates were picked, favoring ones with known strong binding partners. Added partners can grow the marker further, sharpening image alignment. The tool targets receptors locked in their inactive shape. Faster shapes mean faster drug design against a huge receptor family.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Nita R. Shah, Mathieu Oosterlaken, Claudine Bisson, Mattia Bertinelli, Alicia M. Churchill-Angus, Andrew Hutchin, Jola Kopec, Vadim Kotov, Ciaran R. McFarlane, Erika Griss Pascualli, Ana Pavic, Matthias Zebisch, Cédric Fiez-Vandal, Edoardo Fabini, Stéphanie Duclos |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 29 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |