Assistant Professor
columbus@virginia.edu
Room 288C, Chemistry Building (434) 243-2123
B.A. Smith College, 1996
Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles, 2001
NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, The Scripps Research Institute, 2002 - 2007
Membrane proteins facilitate the transfer of information across lipid bilayers, comprise approximately 25% of a typical proteome, and represent over half of all drug targets. The membrane proteins that mediate interactions between bacterial pathogens and hosts are of particular interest to our laboratory. Invasive bacterial pathogens are responsible for many lethal diseases and epidemics, including plague and meningitis. Although these bacteria have diverse mechanisms of cellular invasion, all of the pathways rely upon interactions between host and bacterial membrane proteins.
Our lab seeks to determine the structure and conformational changes of membrane proteins involved in bacterial infection using a combination of site-directed spin labeling (SDSL), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and X-ray crystallography, and also to develop tools to accelerate membrane protein structure determination by these methods.
Mixing and Matching Detergents for Membrane Protein NMR Structure Determination. Columbus L, Lipfert J, Jambunathan K, Fox DA, Sim AY, Doniach S, Lesley SA. J Am Chem Soc. 131, 7320-6 (2009)
Structure and ligand binding of the soluble domain of a Thermotoga maritima membrane protein of unknown function TM1634. McCleverty CJ, Columbus L, Kreusch A, Lesley SA. Protein Sci. 17, 869-77 (2008).
Size and shape of detergent micelles determined by small-angle X-ray scattering. Lipfert J, Columbus L, Chu VB, Lesley SA, Doniach S. J Phys Chem B. 111, 12427-38 (2007).
Analysis of small-angle X-ray scattering data of protein-detergent complexes with singular value decomposition. Lipfert J, Columbus L, Chu V, Doniach S. Journal of Applied Crystallography 40: S235-S239 (2007)
Expression, purification, and characterization of Thermotoga maritima membrane proteins for structure determination. Columbus L, Lipfert J, Klock H, Millett I, Doniach S, Lesley SA. Protein Sci. 15, 961-75 (2006).