Labeling Membrane Proteins Using Proximity-Induced or Affinity-Guided Approaches to Identify New Receptors

This is a poster presentation for a project completed through the UCARE Program. The goal of this project is to develop methods in which the receptor proteins can be labeled in living cells with the membranes still intact. We aim to develop and implement new chemical reactions to form covalent bonds between ligands and their receptor proteins. Our strategy utilizes a chemical reaction called azo-coupling, which allows for the formation of bonds between ligands and the tyrosine amino acid residue, which is abundant in protein binding sites. Our project hopes to prove that this proposed chemical reaction is feasible, the transfection of our created labeling reagent occurs in proficient abundance, and the labeling reagent only binds to the intended protein receptors.