Question: How would you experiment on Proteins?

Jack Heal answered on 10 Mar 2013:

At the moment I’m studying a protein which binds to a drug, and makes the drug active. The drug tells your immune system not to over-react, which is really important when people are given organ transplants. Sometimes the immune system tries to fight the new organ, mistaking it for something harmful. While this “fight” is going on, the person can become very ill.
So the protein I’m studying is important because it can help the drug which prevents this from happening.
I look at how the protein moves before and after the drug is added, and try and get information about how strongly the drug and the protein connect. To do these experiments I am using an experimental technique called NMR. This involves really strong magnets and very precise radio signals and equipment that costs a fortune. It’s a fairly complicated technique but the information we get from the experiment tells us how the drug and the protein talk to each other.