Mass spectrometry approaches to address capability gaps in drug discovery for membrane transporters

Transporters are a large family of proteins which convey sugars, amino acids, and other solutes across biological membranes. Some drugs target this family but in general transporters are sparsely exploited for therapeutic agents. This project aims to address two capability gaps in transporter drug discovery by applying state-of-the-art mass spectrometry (MS) techniques to detect solutes directly with the aim for assay development for drug discovery. The student will develop cell-based assays for membrane transporter function and apply them in the context of drug discovery projects for novel inhibitors with the industrial partner. Secondly, the student will develop MS-based whole-cell
binding assays for transporters and other membrane proteins.