Sigma-Aldrich has signed a licensing deal with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to offer two membrane scaffold proteins (MSPs) for use in nanodisc technology devised by Stephen Sligar, who serves as the Director of the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the university.
MSP1E3D1 and MSP1D1 are the two membrane scaffold proteins to be offered by Sigma-Aldrich. They are part of the company’s novel Sigma Life Science product family. By using amphipathic properties of Apolipoprotein A-1, MSPs offer a multi-helical scaffold for the integration of different sizes of target proteins.
Nanodiscs are systems that can be assembled by themselves. These systems are helpful in dissolving insoluble but pharmacologically and biologically important targets such as viral antigens, enzymes, transporters, and receptors in aqueous media. Nanodisc constructs retain the functional activity of a target and offer a native-like bilayer environment to analyze membrane proteins, including Tar receptors, cholera toxins, coagulation factors, bacteriorhodopsins, cytochrome P450s and GPCRs. Nanodiscs are utilized in numerous applications, including drug discovery, binding assays, imaging measurements, structural analysis and kinetic studies.
The Director of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Office of Technology Management, Lesley Millar commented that the organization is happy to join hands with Sigma-Aldrich to offer the MSPs that strengthen the versatile nanodisc system. Through this partnership, the usage of nanodiscs will be extended further in basic research and in the advancement of therapeutics and diagnostics.
Sigma-Aldrich’s Market Segment Manager, Robert Gates stated that the nanodisc technology facilitates life science researchers to better understand the structure and function of key membrane proteins.
Source: http://illinois.edu/