Patent ID: 8187871

Claim:
A method of identifying a ligand that forms a thioether bond to Cys325 of ERR-α comprising the steps of: a. contacting the ligand binding domain of human ERR-α comprising SEQ ID NO: 2 with the ligand of Compound 1 or derivatives thereof thereby forming a complex; b. cocrystallizing said complex thereby forming a crystal comprising SEQ ID NO: 2 that forms in space group P6 5 22 with unit cell parameters of about a=b=103 Å, c=110 Å and γ=120°; c. determining the three dimensional structure from said crystal; and employing the three dimensional structure of ERR-α to identify the ligands that form a thioether bond to Cys325 of ERR-α, wherein Cys325 corresponds to full length human ERR-α numbering.