‘IMPs’ a myth no more: novel mass spectrometry-aided method for footprinting integral membrane proteins

A team of researchers from the Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine (MO, USA) have developed a novel method of mass spectrometry-based footprinting to probe integral membrane proteins in liposomes for application in drug design, development, binding and screening.  Integral membrane proteins (IMPs) have been known to perform most of the key functions of membranes, including cell membranes. The amounts and types of membrane proteins can thus be highly variable. IMPs play a significant part in signaling, transport, adhesion and catalysis, making them an attractive target for drugs and therapeutics. However, the analysis of these proteins is limited by a...