Research Interests
Integral membrane proteins like transporters and receptors play key roles in cellular signal transduction. I am interested in better understanding the way receptors orchestrate signaling in complex interactive systems at the molecular level. I am initiating and supervising projects on the structure, function and dynamics of those receptors. Science on eukaryotic membrane proteins requires sophisticated techniques for testing expression, purification, activity and crystallization using amphiphile molecules like detergents and lipids that mimick the membrane. In the group I am therefore involved in experiments using state-of-the-art techniques in biophysics (SLS synchrotron, X-ray free electron laser (SwissFEL), electron microscopy), biochemistry and cell biology for a complete functional and structural characterization of G protein-coupled receptors.
Curriculum Vitae
Publications
2023
- Ultrafast structural changes direct the first molecular events of vision.Thomas Gruhl, Tobias Weinert, Matthew Rodrigues, Christopher J Milne, ... , Przemyslaw Nogly, Xavier Deupi, So Iwata, Richard Neutze, Jörg Standfuss, Gebhard FX Schertler, Valerie Panneels.NATURE (2023) 615, 939–944
- Rodrigues MJ, Casadei CM, Weinert T, Panneels V, Schertler GFXActa Crystallogr D Struct Biol. 2023 Mar 1;79(Pt 3):224-233DOI: 10.1107/S2059798323000931. Epub 2023 Feb 27
2022
Dynamics and mechanism of a light-driven chloride pump.
Mous S, Gotthard G, Ehrenberg D, Sen S, Weinert T, Johnson PJM, James D, Nass K, Furrer A, Kekilli D, Ma P, Brünle S, Casadei CM, Martiel I, Dworkowski F, Gashi D, Skopintsev P, Wranik M, Knopp G, Panepucci E, Panneels V, Cirelli C, Ozerov D, Schertler GFX, Wang M, Milne C, Standfuss J, Schapiro I, Heberle J, Nogly P.Science. 2022 Feb 25;375(6583):845-851.DOI: 10.1126/science.abj6663. Epub 2022 Feb 3. PMID: 35113649- ULTRAFAST STRUCTURAL CHANGES DIRECT THE FIRST MOLECULAR EVENTS OF VISION.Thomas Gruhl, Tobias Weinert, Matthew Rodrigues, Christopher J Milne, Giorgia Ortolani, Karol Nass, Eriko Nango, Saumik Sen, Philip J M Johnson, Claudio Cirelli, Antonia Furrer, Sandra Mous, Petr Skopintsev, Daniel James, Florian Dworkowski, Petra Båth, Demet Kekilli, Dmitry Ozerov, Rie Tanaka, Hannah Glover, Camila Bacellar, Steffen Brünle, Cecilia M Casadei, Azeglio D Diethelm, Dardan Gashi, Guillaume Gotthard, Ramon Guixà-González, Yasumasa Joti, Victoria Kabanova, Gregor Knopp, Elena Lesca, Pikyee Ma, Isabelle Martiel, Jonas Mühle, Shigeki Owada, Filip Pamula, Daniel Sarabi, Oliver Tejero, Ching-Ju Tsai, Niranjan Varma, Anna Wach, Sébastien Boutet, Kensuke Tono, Przemyslaw Nogly, Xavier Deupi, So Iwata, Richard Neutze, Jörg Standfuss, Gebhard FX Schertler, Valerie Panneels.bioRxiv 2022.10.14.511948;
2021
Imaging of retina cellular and subcellular structures using ptychographic hard X-ray tomography.
Panneels V, Diaz A, Imsand C, Guizar-Sicairos M, Müller E, Bittermann AG, Ishikawa T, Menzel A, Kaech A, Holler M, Grimm C, Schertler
J. Cell Sci. (2021) Oct 1;134(19):jcs258561. doi: 10.1242/jcs.258561.
DOI:https://journals.biologists.com/jcs/article-lookup/doi/10.1242/jcs.258561
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT| 15 October 2021: Non-destructive imaging of large tissue volumes using X-rays
The Company of Biologists Ltd
J Cell Sci (2021) 134 (19): e134_e1901.
DOI: https://journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/134/19/e134_e1901/272504
2020
Femtosecond-to-millisecond structural changes in a light-driven sodium pump.
Skopintsev P, Ehrenberg D, Weinert T, James D, Kar RK, Johnson PJM, Ozerov D, Furrer A, Martiel I, Dworkowski F, Nass K, Knopp G, Cirelli C, Arrell C, Gashi D, Mous S, Wranik M, Gruhl T, Kekilli D, Brünle S, Deupi X, Schertler GFX, Benoit RM, Panneels V, Nogly P, Schapiro I, Milne C, Heberle J, Standfuss J.
Nature 583(7815):314-318 (2020).
doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2307-8. Epub 2020 May 20. PMID: 32499654
Membrane protein preparation for serial crystallography using high-viscosity injectors: rhodopsin as an example.
Weinert, T., & Panneels, V.
Methods in Molecular Biology: C. Perez & T. Maier (Eds.)Vol. 2127. Expression, purification, and structural biology of membrane proteins (pp. 321-338)
2019
Crystal structure of jumping spider rhodopsin-1 as a light sensitive GPCR.
Varma, N., Mutt, E., Mühle, J., Panneels, V., Terakita, A., Deupi, X., … Lesca, E. (2019).
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America PNAS, 116(29), 14574-14556 (2019).
2018
- Retinal isomerization in bacteriorhodopsin captured by a femtosecond x-ray laserSCIENCE 361, 145 (2018).
2017
- Serial millisecond crystallography for routine room-temperature structure determination at synchrotronsNATURE COMMUNICATIONS 8, 542 (2017).
2016
Addendum to Three-dimensional mass density mapping of cellular ultrastructure by ptychographic X-ray nanotomography [J. Struct. Biol. 192 (2015) 461-469]
JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY 193, 83 (2016).Lipidic cubic phase injector is a viable crystal delivery system for time-resolved serial crystallography
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS 7, 12314 (2016).DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12314
Three-dimensional mass density mapping of cellular ultrastructure by ptychographic X-ray nanotomography (vol 192, pg 461, 2015)
JOURNAL OF STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY 193, 83-83 (2016).
2015
- Batch crystallization of rhodopsin for structural dynamics using an X-ray free-electron laser
ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION F-STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY COMMUNICATIONS 71, 856 (2015).DOI: 10.1107/S2053230X15009966
- Time-resolved structural studies with serial crystallography: A new light on retinal proteins
STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS 2, 041718 (2015).DOI: 10.1063/1.4922774