X-Ray Crystallography

  The biological molecules that make up our bodies have evolved exquisite ways to control and promote complex chemistries and communications that orchestrate our daily lives, as well as keep harmful disease causing “bugs” at bay. When these systems malfunction, or the immune system is overwhelmed, the effects can be catastrophic. To understand the changes that lead to adverse effects to human health and also disease, we need to understand how the molecular “players” work. Most drugs and toxic compounds are small relative to the biological molecules they target. We therefore need to image the interactions on the scale of these smaller compounds. One of the major routes to obtaining highly detailed images of biological molecules at the level of the compounds to which they bind, is using a technique called X-ray crystallography. Results using this technique have impacted human health and disease in many ways. Improving drug efficacy and selectivity (reducing unwanted side-effects) through improved design; guiding vaccine development; understanding the evolution of multi-drug resistant organisms, and how to combat them; optimization of strategies for the removal of toxic compounds from the environment; engineering bacteria into factories for complex drug production.
The Kahlert Structural Biology Laboratory (KSBL) was formed in 1989 in response to the targeting of Molecular and Cellular Biology as a research focus for the University, and is the center for biological X-ray crystallography. Since its inception, the KSBL has made important contributions to areas of biomedical science, biotechnology and chemical biology, resulting in over 150 publications in journals such as Cell, Nature, Science, Nature Structural Biology, EMBO Journal, Biochemistry and Journal of Molecular Biology. These research areas include lipid/protein interactions, metalloenzymes, iron storage proteins, citric acid cycle enzymes, microbial toxins, microbial virulence, viral DNA packaging, metabolic control of enzymes and amino acid derived cofactors. The KSBL is one of only two such facilities available in the State of Minnesota, and, as such, serves the community at large.