Biological and Biomedical Solid-State NMR

Koen Visscher, a former Master student in our group, has just published an article on ion channel clusters,

Supramolecular organization and functional implications of K+ channel clusters in membranes, which was accepted in Angewandte Chemie.

We used a novel approach that combines dynamic nuclear polarizaiton-enhanced solid-state NMR experiments and large-scale computer simulations. With this approach, we were able to show that potassium channel clustering depends on the gating state of the channels. Our study demonstrates a link between potassium channel clustering and function, and uncovers a hitherto unknown mechanism of ion channel communication. 

This approach can be used to study membrane protein - membrane protein interactions in a broad context.

Way to go Koen!