Pai, Emil F. - University of Toronto - Department of Biochemistry

个人简介

Emil F. Pai was born and raised in Heidelberg, Germany. After undergraduate studies in Chemistry at Heidelberg University, he moved to the Department of Biophysics at the Max-Planck-Institute for Medical Research for training in biochemistry and macromolecular crystallography. He identified the substrate binding sites of adenylate kinase and determined the first crystal structure of a flavoenzyme, glutathione reductase. After receiving his doctoral degree, he stayed on at the MPI, first as Postdoc then as Group Leader. From 1982-83 he worked in T.C. Bruice’s lab at the University of California at Santa Barbara on heme models of cytochrome P-450 oxidations. Back at the MPI, he contributed to the crystal structure of the muscle protein actin and determined the three-dimensional fold of the first oncoprotein, H-ras p21. In 1991, he came to the Biochemistry Department as the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Protein Crystallography. He has over 200 publications to his name.

研究领域

The present members of the Pai lab (Natasha Kruglyak, Ondrej Halgas, and Pedram Mehrabi) are interested in the way structure of proteins determines their function. Specific proteins of interest are the bacterial Mg channel CorA, enzymes that break C-F bonds, antibodies that trap misfolded forms of prion proteins, an anti-HIV-1 antibody, and the evolution and maturation of IgG molecules. They have access to several in-house and synchrotron X-ray sources as well as automated crystallization equipment. A newly developing focus deals with time-resolved crystallography and electron diffraction. All the projects involve close collaborations with international, Canadian, and Toronto laboratories.

近期论文

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Substrate distortion contributes to the catalysis of orotidine-5’-monophosphate decarboxylase. Fujihashi M, Ishida T, Juroda S, Kotra LP, Pai EF, Miki K. J Amer Chem Soc. 2013 135:17432-43. Read Structures and regulation of magnesium selective ion channels. Payandeh J, Pfoh R, Pai EF. Biochim Biophys Acta - Biomembranes 2013 1828:2778-92. Read N-terminal helix-cap in alpha-helix 2 modulates beta-state misfolding in rabbit and hamster prion protein. Sweeting B, Brown E, Khan MQ, Chakrabartty A, Pai EF. PLoS ONE 2013 8:e63047 Read Structural asymmetry in the magnesium channel CorA points to sequential allosteric regulation. Pfoh R, Li A, Chakrabarti N, Payandeh J, Pomes R, Pai EF. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2012 109:18809-14. Read Protein conformational gating of enzymatic activity in xanthine oxidoreductase. Ishikita H, Eger BT, Okamoto K, Nishino T, Pai EF. J Amer Chem Soc 2012 134:999-1009. Read Crystal structure of the passenger domain of the Escherichia coli autotransporter EspP. Khan S, Mian HS, Sandercock LE, Chrigadze NY, Pai EF. J Mol Biol 2011 413:985-1000. Read Mapping the reaction coordinates of enzymatic defluorination. Chan WY, Yakunin AF, Edwards EA, Pai EF. J Amer Chem Soc 2011 133:7461-8. Read Crystal structure of metarhodopsin II. Choe HW, Kim YJ, Park JH, Morizumi T, Pai EF, Krauß N, Hofmann KP, Scheerer P, Ernst O. Nature (London) 2011 471:651-5. Read