Dr. Valérie Panneels

Integral membrane proteins like transporters and receptors play key roles in cellular signal transduction. I am interested in better understanding the way receptors orchestrate signaling in complex interactive systems at the molecular level. I am initiating and supervising projects on the structure, function and dynamics of those receptors. Science on eukaryotic membrane proteins requires sophisticated techniques for testing expression, purification, activity and crystallization using amphiphile molecules like detergents and lipids that mimick the membrane. In the group I am therefore involved in experiments using state-of-the-art techniques in biophysics (SLS synchrotron, X-ray free electron laser (SwissFEL), electron microscopy), biochemistry and cell biology for a complete functional and structural characterization of G protein-coupled receptors.

Curriculum Vitae

Time-resolved x-ray solution scattering from detergent solubilized visual rhodopsin. Daniel Sarabi, Lucija Ostojić, Xiaolin Xu, Thomas Gruhl, Niranjan Varma, Robert Bosman, Oskar Berntsson, Martin Nors Pedersen, Mathias Sander, Michael Wulff, Matteo Levantino, Gebhard F X Schertler, Michael F Brown, Valerie Panneels, Richard Neutze. Biophys J (2026) 10:S0006-3495(26)00014-7. doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2026.01.014.

Advances of 3D microcrystals electron diffraction for transmembrane protein structure determination. Giorgia Fiorini, Gebhard F X Schertler, Valérie Panneels. Biophys J (2025) Oct 23:S0006-3495(25)00698-8. DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2025.10.027

Light-induced FTIR Spectroscopy of Visual Rhodopsin Microcrystals Grown in Lipidic Cubic Phase. Yosuke Mizuno, Valérie Panneels, Yuji Furutani, Gebhard F X Schertler, Hideki Kandori, Kota Katayama. J Mol Biol (2025) 15;437(24):169487. doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2025.169487.

• Structural effects of high laser power densities on an early bacteriorhodopsin photocycle intermediate.
  Bertrand Q, Nogly P, Nango E, Kekilli D, Khusainov G, Furrer A, James D, Dworkowski F, Skopintsev P, Mous S, Martiel I, Börjesson P, Ortolani G, Huang CY, Kepa M, Ozerov D, Brünle S, Panneels V, Tanaka T, Tanaka R, Tono K, Owada S, Johnson PJM, Nass K, Knopp G, Cirelli C, Milne C, Schertler G, Iwata S, Neutze R, Weinert T, Standfuss J. NATURE COMMUNICATIONS 15(1):10278 (2023).
  DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-54422-8

• Ultrafast structural changes direct the first molecular events of vision. 
  Thomas Gruhl, Tobias Weinert, Matthew Rodrigues, Christopher J Milne, ... , Przemyslaw Nogly, Xavier Deupi, So Iwata, Richard Neutze, Jörg Standfuss, Gebhard FX Schertler, Valerie Panneels. NATURE (2023) 615, 939–944. DOI: s41586-023-05863-6

• Correction of rhodopsin serial crystallography diffraction intensities for a lattice-translocation defect. Rodrigues MJ, Casadei CM, Weinert T, Panneels V, Schertler GFX. Acta Cryst D Struct Biol. 2023 Mar 1;79(Pt 3):224-233. DOI: 10.1107/S2059798323000931. Epub 2023 Feb 27

• Dynamics and mechanism of a light-driven chloride pump. Mous S, Gotthard G, Ehrenberg D, Sen S, Weinert T, Johnson PJM, James D, Nass K, Furrer A, Kekilli D, Ma P, Brünle S, Casadei CM, Martiel I, Dworkowski F, Gashi D, Skopintsev P, Wranik M, Knopp G, Panepucci E, Panneels V, Cirelli C, Ozerov D, Schertler GFX, Wang M, Milne C, Standfuss J, Schapiro I, Heberle J, Nogly P. Science. 2022 Feb 25;375(6583):845-851. DOI: 10.1126/science.abj6663.

   

• ULTRAFAST STRUCTURAL CHANGES DIRECT THE FIRST MOLECULAR EVENTS OF VISION. 
  Thomas Gruhl, Tobias Weinert, Matthew Rodrigues, Christopher J Milne, Giorgia Ortolani, Karol Nass, Eriko Nango, Saumik Sen, Philip J M Johnson, Claudio Cirelli, Antonia Furrer, Sandra Mous, Petr Skopintsev, Daniel James, Florian Dworkowski, Petra Båth, Demet Kekilli, Dmitry Ozerov, Rie Tanaka, Hannah Glover, Camila Bacellar, Steffen Brünle, Cecilia M Casadei, Azeglio D Diethelm, Dardan Gashi, Guillaume Gotthard, Ramon Guixà-González, Yasumasa Joti, Victoria Kabanova, Gregor Knopp, Elena Lesca, Pikyee Ma, Isabelle Martiel, Jonas Mühle, Shigeki Owada, Filip Pamula, Daniel Sarabi, Oliver Tejero, Ching-Ju Tsai, Niranjan Varma, Anna Wach, Sébastien Boutet, Kensuke Tono, Przemyslaw Nogly, Xavier Deupi, So Iwata, Richard Neutze, Jörg Standfuss, Gebhard FX Schertler, Valerie Panneels. bioRxiv. 2022.10.14.511948; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.10.14.511948

• Imaging of retina cellular and subcellular structures using ptychographic hard X-ray tomography. Panneels V, Diaz A, Imsand C, Guizar-Sicairos M, Müller E, Bittermann AG, Ishikawa T, Menzel A, Kaech A, Holler M, Grimm C, Schertler. J. Cell Sci. (2021) Oct 1;134(19):jcs258561. doi: 10.1242/jcs.258561. DOI:https://journals.biologists.com/jcs/article-lookup/doi/10.1242/jcs.258561

   
• RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT| 15 October 2021: Non-destructive imaging of large tissue volumes using X-rays. The Company of Biologists Ltd. J Cell Sci (2021) 134 (19): e134_e1901. DOI: https://journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/134/19/e134_e1901/272504

• Femtosecond-to-millisecond structural changes in a light-driven sodium pump. Skopintsev P, Ehrenberg D, Weinert T, James D, Kar RK, Johnson PJM, Ozerov D, Furrer A, Martiel I, Dworkowski F, Nass K, Knopp G, Cirelli C, Arrell C, Gashi D, Mous S, Wranik M, Gruhl T, Kekilli D, Brünle S, Deupi X, Schertler GFX, Benoit RM, Panneels V, Nogly P, Schapiro I, Milne C, Heberle J, Standfuss J. Nature 583(7815):314-318 (2020). doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2307-8. Epub 2020 May 20. PMID: 32499654

   

• Membrane protein preparation for serial crystallography using high-viscosity injectors: rhodopsin as an example. Weinert, T., & Panneels, V. Methods in Molecular Biology: C. Perez & T. Maier (Eds.)Vol. 2127. Expression, purification, and structural biology of membrane proteins (pp. 321-338). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-0373-4_21