A new lab at NUI Maynooth is studying cell membranes in a search for cures to diseases such as diabetes, writes Yvonne Cunningham
Research in a new laboratory at NUI Maynooth could help in the search for cures for diseases such as diabetes, cystic fibrosis and obesity. The Marie Curie Laboratory for Membrane Proteins was set up with a €1 million grant from the EU's Marie Curie Transfer of Knowledge fund.
Researchers in the facility will study the membranes that surround cells. "The cell membrane is a sort of barrier between each cell and the outside world, or between adjacent cells. It has a critical function in controlling communication between cells and the uptake and loss of substances by cells," says Prof Philip Dix, associate professor of biology at Maynooth.
Researchers want to understand the structure and function of the proteins in cell membranes. "Understanding the structure of the protein helps us to design drugs towards it; understanding how it functions allows us to understand what mechanisms are in play; all these help us understand health and how to cope where a system is dysfunctional," states Prof John Findlay, supervisor of the laboratory.
Cystic fibrosis is an example of what happens when the cell membrane protein doesn't work properly. "The mutation that causes cystic fibrosis means that the protein concerned, instead of going to the membrane that surrounds a cell, gets stuck inside a cell, so it doesn't have the ability to communicate with the outside world any more," says Findlay.
"The protein, if you isolate it, is still active and doing its job, but because it can't move to the cell membrane it can't do it in the right place so the cell isn't responding to its environment very well.
"In trying to understand that process we can develop drugs that might actually help this protein to get over this problem and function normally without doing gene therapy, which is really very difficult."
Research into cell membranes can also help in the understanding of obesity. "When everything is working properly after a meal, signals go around the body to say you don't need to eat any more. But if the protein isn't in the membrane of the cells you can't see the signal - it's almost as if the signal isn't there, so there is no feeling of satiety, which means people just keep eating. They think they're hungry all the time and, of course, that leads to obesity," says Finlay.
The applications of this research are in the design of new drugs. "Many drugs target components of the cell membranes," says Dix. "So one of the big areas would be in evaluating and screening chemicals for their usefulness in the pharmaceutical industry as drugs, because so many effective new drugs are mainly focused on the membrane."
Another application is in making biosensors - sensors incorporating cell membranes, which act as reporting systems for detecting substances.
"Little self-contained biosensors will allow us to monitor our bodies in the doctor's surgery, or the environment in which we exist, or explosives and dangerous substances at airports," says Findlay.
"There's very little in the way of people experienced in studying membrane proteins in Ireland, there's a set of skills needed. These skills have been developed quite well on the international stage, and the idea was that it would be valuable to establish a centre in Ireland where this expertise was focused, so we could begin to examine in more detail these membrane proteins."
The new laboratory is funded by a €1 million grant from the EU's Marie Curie transfer of knowledge research programme, and NUI Maynooth is providing laboratory facilities and equipment.
The Marie Curie funding will pay for six researchers working under the supervision of Findlay. Dix hopes that the laboratory will expand over the next couple of years.
"I would certainly be surprised if in 18 months to two years from now there aren't at least a dozen researchers working in it or possibly more."