Dissecting Protein Receptors, Mega Magnets, New Drug Discovery

This newsrelease from eurekalert, caught my eye. Not simply because it details a significant advance in technique for new drug discovery, but also for what it tells about the technique within the technique.
Here's how it works:

The receptor protein with a drug stuck to it is dipped into a solvent called "heavy water" (deuterium oxide, or D2O). In the portions of the receptor that can exchange with heavy water (regions not involved in hydrogen bonding), the natural hydrogen atoms are gradually replaced by deuterium atoms, which increase the mass from 1 to 2 mass units. Scientists then dissect the receptor and use the magnet to weigh pieces of it to see which segments of the receptor remain covered up by the drug.

Wait a minute! The scientists dissect the receptor? I have dissected frogs, cats, dogs, humans, and various other animals, but I have never dissected a receptor. How did they do it?

By utilizing the high-field ICR magnet and its powerful spectrometer, coupled with a sample preparation robot, the scientists were able to extract data that show how the drug alters the dynamics of the receptor upon binding. Did they use the sample preparation robot to dissect the receptor? Interesting. How will they analyse all the data they generate?

Now that the data acquisition has been automated, the next step is automating the data analysis. The amount of data generated by the magnet's high-test mass spectrometer is staggering: 1 million data points every second. To analyze the data by hand would take a month. With automated software being developed at the magnet lab, the analysis will take just a few minutes.


Hat tip to Beta Rhythm Blog, the source for my graphic, and an interesting place to browse.