Structural Insights into Human Proton-Coupled Folate Transporter (hPCFT) and Organic Anion Transporting Polypeptide 1A2 (OATP1A2)

PhD defence by Ruyu Yan

Assessment Committee

Associate professor Azadeh Shahsavar, Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen (Chairperson)
Professor Carsten Uhd Nielsen, University of Southern Denmark
Professor David Drew, Stockholm University

Supervisors

Associate Professor Osman Asghar Mirza
Professor Emeritus Michael Gajhede

Department

Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology

Graduate Programme

Pharmaceutical Sciences

Place

Building: 12, Room: The Alfred Benzon Auditorium (room 12.1.105), Universitetsparken 2,København Ø, 2100

Email address to gain access to the thesis: ruyu.yan@ku.dk.
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Short description of the thesis

Human membrane transporters mediate the cellular uptake of essential nutrients and therapeutic compounds, making them central to human physiology and drug development. Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) enables the structural characterisation of membrane transporters at high resolution in near-native states. In this PhD project, the structures of two drug-related human transporters, the Proton-Coupled Folate Transporter (PCFT) and Organic Anion Transporting Polypeptide 1A2 (OATP1A2), were determined and analysed. These structural studies provide new insights into transporter oligomerisation, substrate-binding pockets and transporter-mediated drug–food interactions, contributing to future studies of transporter mechanisms and structure-guided drug development.