Biochemistry, University of Toronto

Oliver P. Ernst Wins the 2020 Konrad Adenauer Research Award

8 December 2020|

Our congratulations goes out to Professor Oliver Ernst, the recipient of the 2020 Konrad Adenauer Research Award.

The Humboldt Foundation’s Konrad Adenauer Research Award honours researchers from Canada whose fundamental discoveries and findings have helped shape their discipline beyond their immediate research area and whose personality and research have contributed to strengthening academic and cultural relations between Germany and Canada.

18th International Conference on Retinal Proteins

21 September 2018|

Oliver Ernst (Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics) and Leonid Brown (University of Guelph) are organizing the 18th International Conference on Retinal Proteins, 24-29 September 2018, Hockley Valley Resort, Ontario (1h northwest of Toronto). The Resort is fully booked, but day registrations are still possible to get latest insight into retinal proteins, which are key to optogenetics and understanding GPCR signaling. The conference welcomes two of the 2018 Gairdner awardees. For […]

Structure and Dynamics of Complexes of G Proteins and their Receptors

16 March 2018|

Ned Van Eps in the Ernst laboratory used DEER spectroscopy together with molecular modeling techniques to map the structure of a complex between a G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) and its G protein. A paper describing the methodology used for characterizing the binding interface of the rhodopsin–G protein complex has recently been published in PNAS. The authors discovered that the binding mode of G protein subtypes is distinct and key differences suggest […]

Cellular Signalling in Virtual Reality

4 December 2017|

Aidin Balo in the Ernst laboratory delivers seminars about the structural details of rhodopsin signalling entirely in virtual reality for large audiences at international conferences using technology developed at Autodesk Life Sciences. A paper describing the novel aspects of the tool, the Autodesk Molecule Viewer, has been published in this month’s issue of Nature Methods (publicly accessible link: http://rdcu.be/z0HH) A story about […]

How GPCRs use phosphorylation codes for arrestin recruitment

23 August 2017|

DEER spectroscopy by Ned van Eps in the Ernst lab was used to validate the crystal structure of the phosphorylated G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) rhodopsin in complex with arrestin. EPR measurements confirmed the location of the C-terminal tail of rhodopsin on a arrestin binding surface in a non-crystallographic environment. GPCRs are among the most important cell surface receptors controlling nearly all of our physiology. Termination of G-protein-mediated signalling by an […]

Ernst Lab discover new way to crystallize membrane proteins

7 February 2017|

The laboratory of Dr. Oliver Ernst has used X-ray crystallography to determine the structure of a membrane protein that never left a lipid-bilayer environment (i.e., without the use of conventional detergents). The work, published in Structure and highlighted on the Journal’s cover, was led by postdoctoral fellow Dr. Jana Broecker. Polymer-bounded lipid nanodiscs were used to extract and purify membrane proteins with their surrounding lipids and allowed […]

The photo shows Scott Prosser, Oliver Ernst, and senior research scientists, Libin Ye and Ned van Eps, discussing recent results in the lab.

Understanding the Molecular Underpinnings of Cell Signaling through GPCRs

17 May 2016|

A class of receptors responsible for regulating neuronal function is part of the focus of a recent study by the Prosser and Ernst labs at UofT. Their paper, “Activation of the A2A adenosine G-protein-coupled receptor by conformational selection,” appears in the latest edition of the journal Nature http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature17668.html.

There is a great deal of interest in understanding this broad class of cell signaling receptors called GPCRs (G-Protein-coupled receptors), which are responsible for basic processes such […]

News & Views "Structural biology: Arresting developments in receptor signalling” by Jeffrey Benovic.

Ernst lab contributes DEER spectroscopy to Nature paper on rhodopsin-arrestin complex structure

6 August 2015|

The GPCR-arrestin complex crystal structure was solved using data collected at the Stanford LCLS X-ray free electron laser. Ned van Eps and Lydia Caro from the Ernst lab used pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy to validate the rhodopsin–arrestin complex assembly. The study published online 22 July 2015 in Nature has been downloaded more than 22,000 times in the first week after publication.

New CIFAR research program co-directed by Oliver P. Ernst and R.J. Dwayne Miller

7 July 2015|

A new CIFAR Research Program co-directed by Oliver P. Ernst and R.J. Dwayne Miller advertised in The Globe and Mail on June 24, 2015.

The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research launched four new research programs. Two Biochemistry faculty, Lewis E. Kay and Oliver P. Ernst, as well as R.J. Dwayne Miller from the Departments of Chemistry and Physics are members of the program […]

Scott Prosser and Oliver Ernst organize 16th GPCR Retreat

3 July 2015|

Scott Prosser and Oliver Ernst are organizing this year’s Great Lakes GPCR Retreat at Hockley Valley Resort (80 km northeast of Toronto). A workshop “Tools for Structural Neurobiology” organized by the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Structural Neurobiology precedes the GPCR Retreat.

Dr. André Hoelz: “Building the atomic structure of the nuclear pore complex piece by piece”

11 November 2014|

Dr. André Hoelz, from the Department of Bochemistry at the California Institute of Technology presented the above lecture in our George Connell Seminar Series.

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