First computer simulation of a notoriously elusive serotonin receptor at EPFL

April 25, 2016

SynSignal coordinator Horst Vogel and his team at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have elucidated for the first time how a notoriously elusive serotonin receptor (5-HT3) functions with atom-level detail through computer simulation. This so-called “molecular dynamics simulation” uses the structure of 5-HT3 that Vogel’s lab uncovered in 2014 to accurately depict the structural changes that 5-HT3 undergoes inside a cell membrane after serotonin binds and activates it to open its ion channel. Vogel’s findings allow for a number of medical applications, e. g. developing novel therapeutic compounds in order to treat neuronal diseases such as schizophrenia and anxiety.

More information here.