Enhancing Kavli connections - Distinguished Lecture presented by Kavli Oxford Director, Professor Dame Carol Robinson at Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute, University of California, Berkely

Enhancing Kavli connections - 

Distinguished Lecture presented to Kavli Oxford Director, Professor Dame Carol Robinson at Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute, University of California, Berkeley

Professor Dame Carol Robinson was delighted to be awarded the Kavli Distinguished Lecture on 23 September 2025 

Photo: Professor Dame Carol Robinson and Professor Peidong Yang, Director of Kavli Energy NanoSciences Institute

Professor Robinson's lecture entitled Unveiling Membrane Proteins at the Nanoscale: Mass Spectrometry from Recombinant Complexes to Brain Regions was presented at Kavli Energy NanoSciences Institute (ENSI), University of California, Berkeley.

Prior to her talk Professor Robinson met with ENSI faculty and post-doctoral researchers to discuss aspects of their work and to consider synergies between Kavli Berkeley and Kavli Oxford. 

Lecture abstract:
In 2008, a groundbreaking milestone was achieved when scientists captured the first mass spectra of intact membrane protein complexes, detached from their native detergent micelles, in the gas phase. This achievement opened a new frontier in nanoscience, allowing detailed investigation of the molecular architecture and dynamics of these elusive, membrane-embedded entities.

Harnessing advanced mass spectrometry techniques, researchers can now probe the structural integrity, lipid interactions, and functional states of complex membrane proteins such as rotary ATPases, G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), ABC transporters, ion channels, and solute carriers—all at the nanoscale. These insights are crucial for understanding how lipids and drugs modulate transport, coupling mechanisms, and signal transduction within the membrane environment.

The implications are profound for drug discovery: mass spectrometry enables high-resolution ligand screening for GPCRs, ion channels, and transporters directly from native membranes. Recent innovations push this approach further, allowing the extraction and analysis of membrane proteins directly from tissues—such as specific brain regions implicated in psychiatric disorders—providing a window into the molecular underpinnings of neurobiology at the nanoscale.

During her talk Professor Robinson highlighted recent case studies demonstrating how this nanoscale perspective is transforming our understanding of membrane protein function and paving the way for targeted therapeutics.
 

Since April 2021, Oxford University's Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery is proudly serving as a hub for research groups from seven different departments spanning both the medical and physical sciences, including the Robinson Group from the Department of Chemistry.