The International Research Fellow Awards Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.
This award will provide 24 months of support to Dr. Stephen F. Marino to work with Professor Andreas Plueckthun at the University of Zurich in Switzerland.
The goal of this project is the generation of G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) amenable to structural studies. GPCRs are integral membrane proteins that are primary receptors responsible for olfaction, vision, taste, hormonal and neuronal action. Between 1 and 3% of the vertebrate genome is thought to code for GPCR-like sequences and they are the primary targets of up to 50% of all pharmaceuticals. Structures of other GPCRs would allow the scientific community to understand how GPCRs can bind diverse ligands such as peptides, nucleotides, amino acids, lipids, ions, etc.
The Plueckthun lab has pioneered ribosome display applications, making it the best place to conduct this research.
