Center for Membrane Proteins in Infectious Diseases (MPID)

MPID膜蛋白结构测定中心专注于一个重要的生物和医学相关主题。它的目的是确定参与致病机理的膜蛋白的结构，重点是病毒膜蛋白、细菌膜蛋白和参与致病途径的人膜蛋白。膜蛋白代表了所有药物靶点的60%，它们也是传染病发病机制中的关键角色。要阐明膜蛋白催化的复杂过程，关键的一步是了解膜蛋白的结构、动力学和功能。我们对膜蛋白催化过程的了解主要是由于缺乏关于其结构的信息，因为目前已知的膜蛋白结构不到300种。该中心的目标是重要的病毒和细菌病原体的膜蛋白，它们的感染途径，以及参与宿主防御病原体的分子。这一主题是独一无二的，中心确定的结果和结构将与世界各地的人类健康高度相关。每个靶点的结构测定可能为了解传染病的途径提供重要线索，从而形成治疗和预防传染病的基础。该中心的主要目标是以感染性疾病中膜蛋白的生物学主题为基础，确定40多种新的膜蛋白结构，并开发高通量膜蛋白表达、分离、功能鉴定、结晶和结构确定的新技术。因此，该中心的目标是通过解决具有大序列和结构覆盖的新型膜蛋白的结构，为PSI结构倡议的主要目标做出重大贡献。该中心还致力于开发新的生物信息学工具，用于分析潜在的目标、已解决的结构和预测膜蛋白结构。MPID中心还将与社区和PSI合作，确定目标膜蛋白的结构，以补充中心的初始目标。

The MPID Center for membrane protein structure determination is focused on an important biological and medically relevant theme. It aims to determine the structures of membrane proteins involved in pathogenesis, with a focus on viral membrane proteins, bacterial membrane proteins, and human membrane proteins involved in pathogenic pathways. Membrane proteins represent >60% of all drug targets and they are also key players in the pathogenesis of infectious diseases. A critical step for the elucidation of the complex processes that are catalyzed by membrane proteins is an understanding of the structure, dynamics and function of membrane proteins. Our knowledge of processes catalyzed by membrane proteins suffers mainly from the lack of information concerning their structure as less than 300 different membrane protein structures are known at present. The Center targets membrane proteins of important viral and bacterial pathogens, their infectious pathways, and molecules involved in host defense against the pathogens. This theme is unique and the results and structures determined by the Center will be highly relevant for human health worldwide. The structure determination of each of the targets may provide important clues for the understanding of the infectious disease pathways and can therefore form the basis for the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases. The major goal of the Center is to use the biological theme of membrane proteins in infectious diseases as the basis for the determination of more than 40 novel membrane protein structures and to develop new technology for high throughput membrane protein expression, isolation, functional characterization, crystallization, and structure determination. Therefore, the Center aims to significantly contribute to the main goal of the PSI structure initiative by solving structures of novel membrane proteins with a large sequence and structural coverage. The Center also aims to develop new bioinformatics tools for the analysis of potential targets, solved structures, and the prediction of membrane protein structures. The MPID center will also collaborate with the community and the PSI on the structure determination of target membrane proteins that complement the initial targets of the center.