G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) are transmembrane proteins responsible for signal transmission between cells or between a cell and its environment. They are involved in vision, olfaction and audition as well as in growth, memory or sleep regulation for example. Due to their central role in cellular signalling, GPCRs are targeted by 50% of modern medicines. We have developed a bioanalytical platform enabling the study of GPCRs in their native membrane transferred inside-out from live cells to beads. We now use this bioanalytical platform to study the activation of adenosine receptors upon fluorescent ligand binding. This receptor is involved in sleep regulation and reacts upon caffeine intake.
The goal of the project is design image-analysis algorithms: 1) to track the fluorescent receptors in noisy images 2) to extract the intensity profile over time and 3) to identify these intensity signatures based on a priori simple models.
The program will be implemented as Java plugin for ImageJ.
Collaboration: Sophie Roizard, Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Polymers and Membranes, EPFL
Prerequisites: a course on image processing