PI: Research description | Stockner

Target

The core scientific research of the Stockner lab is centered at membrane transporters and includes the primary active ABC transporters family (ABCB1, ABCG2) and the secondary active neurotransmitter transporters (Neurotransmitter transporter, GABA transporters). The key objective is to achieve a comprehensive understanding of transporter function as well as the influence by membrane environment at the molecular level by developing experimentally verified structural transporter models, predict the mode of action of substrates and inhibitors, characterise conformational dynamics of the transport cycle, energy provision and importantly, derive the free energy profile of the transport cycle to elucidate the forces that energise.

Method

The key methods used for research are molecular modelling, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and free energy calculations. These methods can in principle provide molecular insights with unrivalled time and positional resolutions, but require experimental data to provide verification. The Stockner lab investigates transporter function by using and interdisciplinary approaches by combining experiments with computational approaches to understand the dynamics and energetics and the transport cycle.

Main areas of research

• Structure and dynamics of membrane transporters
• Transport cycle: substrate transport at the molecular level
• Transporter interactions with substrates and inhibitors
• Enthalpy, entropy and energy coupling of transporters
• Direct comparison between experiment and theoretical approaches