Research

Research area

- We aim to understand the principles of cell chemistry under the lens of structural biology.

- Currently, we are interested in the coevolutionary arms race between bacteria and bacteriophages,

focusing on mechanistic investigations of anti-CRISPR proteins.

• Structural mechanism of CRISPR-Cas and anti-CRISPR functions
  
  - Bacteria and archaea employ the CRISPR-Cas system to destroy nucleic acids of phages and plasmids upon infection.
  - Phages developed CRISPR inhibitor (anti-CRISPR) proteins to neutralize the bacterial defense system.
  - We try to understand the mode of action and molecular mechanisms underlying the CRISPR inhibition.
  
   
  - References
  Nucleic Acids Res. (2022) 50, 2363-2376
  CRISPR J. (2021) 4, 448-458
  Nucleic Acids Res. (2020) 48, 9959-9968
  Nucleic Acids Res. (2020) 48, 7584-7594
  FEBS J. (2019) 286, 4661-4674
  Sci. Rep. (2018) 8, 3883
  Nucleic Acids Res. (2018) 46, 485-492
  J. Biol. Chem. (2018) 293, 2744-2754
  FEBS Lett. (2018) 286, 4661-4674
  
  
  

• Detection of lowly populated transient species using NMR paramagnetic relaxation to probe protein interactions and motions
  
  - NMR paramagnetic relaxation enhancement (PRE) is highly sensitive and useful to detect short-lived transient species.
  - We employ the PRE to monitor metastable states, such as target search process during protein association or dynamic equilibrium of a conformational ensemble.
  
  
  - References
  Structure (2018) 26, 887-893
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. (2013) 52, 3384-3388
  
  
  

• Protein-ligand interaction and Structure-Activity Relationship(SAR) by NMR
  
  - 단백질과 리간드 사이 상호작용은 생물학에서 의학에 이르기까지대단히 넓은 응용분야를 가지고 있다.
  - 핵자기공명은 단백질과 기질, 저해제, 또는 약물과의 상호 작용을 규명하고, 구조-활성 관계(SAR)를 이해하는데 유용하게 사용된다.