Elizabeth P. Carpenter is a British structural biologist who is a professor at the

Nuffield Department of Medicine Nuffield may refer to: *William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield, founder of Oxford-based Morris Motors and philanthropist *Nuffield, Oxfordshire, a village in Oxfordshire, England and home of William Richard Morris from which he chose his title, Visc ...

in Oxford. She solved the three-dimensional structure of human membrane proteins using

X-ray crystallography X-ray crystallography is the experimental science of determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to Diffraction, diffract in specific directions. By measuring th ...

. Carpenter uses X-ray crystallography to understand the atomic positions within proteins.

Early life and education

Carpenter studied biochemistry at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. She moved to

Birkbeck, University of London Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a Public university, public research university located in London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the University of London. Establ ...

for doctoral research, where she studied biochemistry and crystallography. After completing her doctorate, Carpenter moved to the

National Institute for Health Research The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is the British government's major funder of clinical, public health, social care and translational research. With a budget of over £1.2 billion in 2020–21, its mission is to "improv ...

, which was based at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

and solved the structures of proteins involved in DNA repair. She also investigated

toxoplasmosis Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by ''Toxoplasma gondii'', an apicomplexan. Infections with toxoplasmosis are associated with a variety of neuropsychiatric and behavioral conditions. Occasionally, people may have a few weeks or month ...

and muste movement.

Research and career

Carpenter is interested in understanding the structure and function of proteins. She studies proteins embedded within cell membranes. The proteins are large hydrophobic surfaces, and understanding their structure is an important step in unravelling the processes of molecules and signals across cell membranes. She established the Membrane Protein Laboratory at the

Diamond Light Source Diamond Light Source (or Diamond) is the UK's national synchrotron light source science facility located at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire. Its purpose is to produce synchrotron light, intense beams of light whose spec ...

in 2007. In 2009, she moved to the Structural Genomics Consortium at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. Carpenter was the first to describe the structure of the human

ABC-transporter The ABC transporters, ATP synthase (ATP)-binding cassette transporters are a transport system superfamily that is one of the largest and possibly one of the oldest gene family, gene families. It is represented in all extant taxon, extant Phyl ...

ABC10. ABC10 is a mitrochonridal protein that is important in the production of heme. She has studied premature ageing syndromes that are caused by failure of the lamin proteins, and the role of the metalloprotease ZMPSTE24. She has also studied human ion channels, including TREK-2, a K2P protein that gives rise to the background leak current that contributes to membrane potential.

Selected publications

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carpenter, Elizabeth Living people Alumni of the University of Cambridge Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London English biologists Year of birth missing (living people) Structural biologists Membrane proteins X-ray crystallography 21st-century British women scientists English women biologists