Membrane Proteins in Vivo and in Silico: Getting the Best of Two Worlds

Membrane protein research has gained a lot of momentum in recent years: high-resolution structures are being produced at an increasing rate, membrane proteomics is coming on line, and membrane proteins are recognized as drug targets of major importance. Bioinformatics has always been an integral part of the developments in the fleld, and today provides the tools necessary to identify the membrane complement of proteomes and to predict topologies and - in lucky cases - full 3D models of membrane proteins. As in so many other areas, much is to be gained from a tighter integration between bioinformatics and experimental studies of membrane proteins. In our own work, we are reaching towards proteomewide studies of membrane protein, an area where experimental and theoretical approaches must be combined to push forward.