Archer Lab - Membrane Protein Crystallography

In the Membrane Protein Crystallography Laboratory, we determine the three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules. The laboratory is integrated in the Macromolecular Crystallography Unit.

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Membrane proteins play crucial roles in essential cellular processes of living organisms, comprising about one-third of all proteins. Despite this, our structural understanding has lagged behind that of their soluble counterparts.

We are currently working with membrane proteins involved in cell wall synthesis, transport and signaling. Furthermore, we are also interested in proteins participating in catalytic and metabolic pathways and proteins which are potential targets for drug design.




Group Members

Margarida Archer, Lab Head

José Brito, Post-doc

Márcia Alves, PhD student

José Rodrigues, PhD student

Diogo Athayde, PhD student

 

Selected Publications

  • Alves MMS, Melo MN, Mertens HDT, Pereiro AB, Archer M. Studies on the Interaction between Model Proteins and Fluorinated Ionic Liquids. Pharmaceutics. 2023 Jan 3;15(1):157. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15010157. PMID: 36678790; PMCID: PMC9863861.
  • Carvalho LAR, Almeida VT, Brito JA, Lum KM, Oliveira TF, Guedes RC, Gonçalves LM, Lucas SD, Cravatt BF, Archer M, Moreira R. 3-Oxo-β-sultam as a Sulfonylating Chemotype for Inhibition of Serine Hydrolases and Activity-Based Protein Profiling. ACS Chem Biol. 2020 Apr 17;15(4):878-883. doi: 10.1021/acschembio.0c00090. Epub 2020 Mar 20. PMID: 32176480.