CAMBRIDGE, England & BOSTON— Biotech company Nuclera has expanded the capabilities of its eProtein Discovery™ platform with the launch of a new workflow enabling rapid membrane protein production. The update allows for the expression, purification, and stabilization of complex membrane proteins within 48 hours — a significant advance for drug discovery and structural biology.
Membrane proteins are notoriously difficult to work with due to their hydrophobic nature and structural complexity. Despite these challenges, they remain critical therapeutic targets, with about 60% of FDA-approved drugs acting on them.
The enhanced eProtein Discovery platform combines cell-free protein synthesis, digital microfluidics, and additive screening to produce functionally active, correctly folded membrane proteins. In recent demonstrations, the system successfully synthesized and purified the membrane transporter MsbA and the integral membrane protein ZMPSTE24. Optimization and scale-up were completed within two days, and the proteins were confirmed to be stable, high-yield, and compatible with cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM).
“The production of functional membrane proteins has long been a bottleneck,” said Dr. Toby Ost, SVP of Product Development at Nuclera. “This new workflow enables researchers to bypass traditional technical barriers and accelerate therapeutic development.”
Dr. Konstantinos Beis, a membrane protein structural biologist at Imperial College London, added, “The eProtein Discovery system is a welcome addition to the membrane protein production toolkit. Our early tests show great promise.”
Existing users of the eProtein Discovery system can access the membrane protein workflow through a software update.
