A commitment to membrane proteins has rendered technology that has placed Youzhong Guo, Ph.D., on the radar of some of the largest players in the biopharmaceutical industry — capping off a 2024 that included a startup formation and one very large research publication. 

“This technology has huge potential for new drug discovery,” said Guo, an associate professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry in the VCU School of Pharmacy. “With our technique, many drug targets can now be explored to develop new medicines, including small molecules and therapeutic antibodies.” 

Guo’s innovative Native Cell Membrane Nanoparticles (NCMN) system offers a unique solution to one of biopharma’s biggest bottlenecks: stabilizing membrane proteins. Membrane proteins are notoriously difficult to study using traditional detergent-based methods, which often destabilize the proteins and their essential lipid interactions. The NCMN system, by contrast, uses membrane-active polymers to extract these proteins in their natural state, preserving their structure and functionality. 

This breakthrough has already gained attention from major biopharma companies, including Bayer, Pfizer, Sanofi and has positioned Guo’s startup as a potential partner for other industry leaders. Additionally, this year his research was featured in a leading scientific journal, Nature Communications, for contributions to solving decades-old challenges in structural biology. In collaboration with Professor Amin Arnaout of Harvard Medical School, the study demonstrated how the NCMN system could unlock new therapeutic possibilities by stabilizing integrin allbß3, a critical membrane protein involved in blood clotting and targeted by existing FDA-approved drugs. 

“Others worked on this integrin for 30 years, but could not get the full structure,” Guo said. “With our technology, we solved that issue, which is very important for understanding function and structure-based drug strategies. The successful structure determination demonstrated the power of the NCMN system in membrane protein structure-based drug discovery.” 

“The progress we made would not have been possible without the ongoing support from VCU TechTransfer and Ventures” Guo said. “They gave me financial support through the VCU Commercialization Fund to develop this technology. They also filed three patents with the USPTO, facilitated critical connections with industry partners, and introduced me to business advisors to help launch a startup company.” 

Guo and his team have ambitious plans for 2025. They aim to refine the NCMN system, making it more robust and versatile. “We want to make this technology more broadly applicable for all membrane proteins,” Guo said. “It’s not only for drug discovery but also for basic research, because membrane proteins play important roles in all living organisms.”