The colloquium will also be streamed online.
Dr. Ana Teixeira, Karolinska Institutet
Invited by Prof. Tim Liedl and Prof. Joachim Rädler
Most membrane proteins are not randomly distributed at the cell surface but organized into dynamic nanoscale islands, nanodomains, whose spatial organization regulates receptor signalling and cell fate, and whose disruption is implicated in several diseases. We develop DNA nanotechnology-based approaches to map membrane protein nanodomains using DNA nanoassemblies as molecular moulds for readout by DNA sequencing or proteomics (Ambrosetti et al., Nature Nanotechnology, 2021).
Further, we use DNA origami and protein nanocages to engineer ligand nanoclusters with programmable valency and geometry. We have shown that the nanoscale spatial organization of ligands governs signalling through the EPH receptor in breast cancer, PD-1 in T cells, and the insulin receptor in adipocytes (Spratt, Dias et al., Nature Nanotechnology, 2024). Our overarching goal is to decode and engineer the nanoscale organization of the cell surface.