Seminar

Bio-Solid State NMR

Juan M. López del Amo, PhD

Solid state NMR spectroscopy is emerging as an essential method for the determination of three-dimensional structures of insoluble peptides and proteins and for the characterization of their dynamics. This technique is especially useful for insoluble amyloid fibrils and membrane proteins, as the first are large protein aggregates that are not accessible to NMR in solution or diffraction techniques and the second are often difficult to crystallize. Amyloid aggregates and membrane proteins are essential for biological functions and are associated with many of the most pernicious illnesses affecting our society like cancer, Alzheimer´s, Parkinson´s, and viral infection. In the first part of this presentation, a brief overview of some of the basic experimental approaches commonly used in the research of peptides and proteins in the solid state will be presented. In the second, some of the most promising experimental approaches that are now under development will be explained and discussed with some examples with special focus on the amyloid fibrils (Aβ) involved in Alzheimer’s disease.