Research group presentation

Group leader: Hugues Nury

The group aims to understand signaling and transport across a biological membrane. To do so, we study membrane proteins at the molecular level with electrophysiology and structural techniques. The membrane transport group comprises three teams:

  • The Gordeliy lab combines an interest in rhodopsins with the development of in meso crystallization
  • The Moreau lab develops the Ion Channel-Coupled Receptor technology
  • The Nury lab focuses on pentameric ligand-gated ion channels

Publications of the group can be found here.

Key words

  • Ion channels
  • G-Protein Coupled Receptors
  • Potassium channel, Kir channel, K-ATP channel
  • Microorganism rhodopsins
  • Nucleotide transport
  • Biosensors
  • Serotonin 5-HT3 receptor
  • In meso crystallization
  • Odorant receptor
  • Insect receptor
  • Cryo-EM
  • Electrophysiology

Specialized techniques

  • Overexpression (eukaryotic systems mostly) and purification of membrane proteins
  • Biophysical, biochemical and functional characterizations
  • Membrane protein crystallization with vapor diffusion and lipidic phase (HTMPC platform)
  • X-ray crystallography
  • Cryo-electron microscopy
  • Construction of mutants, chimeras, and fusion proteins
  • Heterologous expression in Xenopus oocytes (manual and robotic setups)
  • Patch-clamp on cells and proteoliposomes
  • Two-microelectrode voltage clamp (manual and robotic setups)