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Live Cell Labelling of Proteins via Thiol-chemistry

The main interest in Su’s group is development of lanthanide binding tags in site-specific labelling of proteins and nucleic acids for biological magnetic resonance. The lab has been focusing on the generation of stable C-S bonds between proteins, and spin labels for in-cell NMR and EPR analysis of proteins and nucleic acids. The group developed a unique thiol-specific reactive group, phenylsulfonyl pyridine moiety, and this method has been widely used in site-specific labelling of proteins with paramagnetic tags. Recently, this lab developed a method in determining 3D structures of transient protein complexes that are short-lived species in low abundance by combination of site-specific tagging proteins and paramagnetic NMR. In addition, the group is developing 19F-NMR methods in quantitative determination of biological small molecules under physiological conditions and monitoring the activity of biomolecules in live cells.