Researchers at Freie Universität Berlin and the University of Oxford developed a method, which enables the gentle release of proteins from membranes. The German-British team, led by the chemists Prof. Dr. Kevin Pagel and Prof. Dr. Rainer Haag from the Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Freie Universität Berlin and Professor Dame Carol Robinson and Dr. Leonhard Urner from the University of Oxford, established a novel technique for the analysis of membrane proteins. The results were published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications. The study of membrane proteins is of particular importance as they are targets for nearly half of all known drugs. Until now, however, the sensitive proteins have often been destroyed during the detachment from the membrane. According to Kevin Pagel and Rainer Haag, the approach pursued at the Freie Universität Berlin will help to gain a better understanding of their function and to develop new drugs.

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