A new route for the determination of protein structure and function

Understanding complex biological macromolecules, especially proteins, is vital for grasping their diverse chemical functions with direct impact on biology and pharmacology. Techniques such as x-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy face limitations such as radiation damage and difficulties in crystallizing certain proteins. To address this, we present a strategic concept involving engineered protein scaffolds to create ordered arrays of proteins with controlled orientations, aiming at enhancing the signal at the detector. This innovative strategy opens avenues to solve the existing challenges for determining protein structures under physiological conditions. Moreover, it holds promise for studying conformational changes resulting from photoinduced changes, protein–drug, and/or protein–protein interactions. In the near future, our group will focus on showing the potential of the proposed strategy by combining molecular biology, protein self-assembly, and x-ray spectroscopy.