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The Protein Society announces its 2011 award recipients. The Brändén and Hodgkin awards will be conferred at the IX European Symposium of The Protein Society (May 22-26, 2011 in Stockholm, Sweden). The Stein and Moore, Neurath, Anfinsen, Kaiser, and Sigal awards will be conferred at the 25 Anniversary Symposium of The Protein Society (July 23-27, 2011 in Boston, Massachusetts).
The 2011 Carl Brändén Award
Michael F. Summers, Ph.D.
University of Maryland Baltimore County – HHMI
The Carl Brändén Award, sponsored by Rigaku Corporation, is given to an outstanding protein scientist who has also made exceptional contributions in the areas of education and/or service to the science. The 2011 award will be presented at the IX European Symposium to Dr. Michael Summers (University of Maryland Baltimore County - HHMI) for his groundbreaking accomplishments in advancing understanding of the structural biology of retrovirus structure, assembly and function—primarily using NMR spectroscopy. His early efforts in using NMR spectroscopy to structurally characterize proteins and nucleic acids (and their complexes) began with the discovery of novel zinc finger motifs in the nucleocapsid protein of HIV-1 and have continued to the very cutting-edge determination of large RNA structures in the RNA genome of Moloney murine leukemia virus. Dr. Summers is equally recognized for his extraordinary mentoring of postdoctoral scientists, graduate students and undergraduate students—particularly women and members of underrepresented groups. His mentoring commitment inspires and challenges his colleagues to help promote ethnic diversity in the biomedical sciences.
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The 2011 Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Award
Brenda A. Schulman, Ph.D.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – HHMI
Wei Yang, Ph.D.
NIDDK, NIH
The Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Award, sponsored by Genentech,
is
granted in recognition of exceptional contributions in protein science, which
profoundly influence our understanding of biology. The 2011 award will be
jointly awarded at the IX European Symposium to Dr. Brenda Schulman (St.
Jude Children’s Research Hospital – HHMI) and Dr. Wei Yang (NIDDK, NIH).
Dr. Schulman will receive the award for her fundamental and pioneering contributions to the understanding of the ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like systems through structural, biophysical and biochemical insights. Studies by her laboratory have led the way worldwide in the structural and functional understanding of catalysis and regulation by UBL enzymes.
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.jpg) Dr. Yang will be recognized for her numerous studies that led her to propose a widely accepted model of two metal ion catalysis for a large class of nucleic acid enzymes. In her work, Dr. Yang has used powerful crystallographic and biochemical methods to define molecular mechanisms of DNA repair, replication and recombination.
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The 2011 Stein and Moore Award
PeterGerhard Wagner, Ph.D.
Harvard Medical School
The
Stein and Moore Award,
sponsored by The Protein Society, is named for Nobel Laureates
Dr. William Stein and Dr. Stanford Moore. The
award venerates their contribution to understanding the connection between
chemical structure and catalytic activity of the active center of the
ribonuclease molecule. The 2011 award will be presented at the 25th Symposium
to Dr. Gerhard Wagner (Harvard Medical School) for his innumerable
seminal contributions to protein science and for shaping the protein NMR field’s
current state. Dr. Wagner’s contributions include the first observations of the
dynamics of a protein and H-exchange by NMR experiments that stimulated the
development of the field of protein dynamics. He pioneered strategies for
performing spectral assignments in BPTI and demonstrated the efficacy of NMR as
a method to determine protein structures. Subsequently, Dr. Wagner introduced
the world to triple resonance experiments that are fundamental to contemporary
protein structural studies. Using these and other techniques, he has determined
the structure of over 50 proteins. Additionally, he has contributed to the
understanding of many biological questions involving the control of gene
expression, apoptosis and T-cell activation and their interrelationship. His
most recent accomplishment is the determination of the structure of the voltage
dependent anion channel (VDAC), a membrane protein from the outer mitochondrial
membrane.
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The 2010 Hans Neurath Award
Wendell A. Lim, Ph.D.
University of California, San Francisco - HHMI
The Hans Neurath Award, sponsored by the Hans Neurath Foundation, recognizes an individual who has made a recent contribution of unusual merit to basic research in the field of protein science, including but not restricted to the chemistry, design, folding, structure, or biological function of proteins. The 2010 award will be presented to Dr. Wendell A. Lim (University of California, San Francisco – HHMI) on August 1, 2010 for his studies encompassing a variety of techniques for understanding protein function. Dr. Lim’s research has set the stage for a new future in biology, which will enable researchers to engineer new signaling systems with potential implications for medicine and other biological applications. He has made seminal contributions that are central to a deep molecular understanding of cellular signaling pathways as well as illuminating the molecular logic of signal-transduction networks. At present, Dr. Lim’s research is aimed at linking together multiple regulatory modules to create cells that will be able to polarize and migrate in response to novels sets of signals. Dr. Lim is considered to be one of the foremost scientists working on the molecular understanding of signal transduction systems, with a remarkable range of scientific abilities in areas such as structural analysis, biochemistry, cell biology and mathematical modeling of cellular processes.
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The 2011 Hans Neurath Award
Johannes Buchner, Ph.D.
Technische Universität München
The Hans Neurath Award, sponsored by the Hans Neurath Foundation, recognizes an individual who has made a recent contribution of unusual merit to basic research in the field of protein science, including but not restricted to the chemistry, design, folding, structure, or biological function of proteins.
The 2011 award
will be presented at the 25th Symposium to Dr. Johannes Buchner (Technische
Universität München) for his numerous important contributions to protein
science, specifically in the context of protein folding and molecular
chaperones. His rigorous biophysical analysis of the molecular mechanisms of
chaperone proteins have rendered many important contributions including: a
concept for the function of small Hsps in the cellular chaperone machinery; the
unraveling of the conformational cycle of Hsp90 and the function of its
co-chaperones; the identification and characterization of membrane-protection as
a novel function for orphan heat shock protein Hsp12 in yeast; and the discovery
of the quality control mechanism for antibody assembly in the cell, which is
based on a folding switch in one conserved domain. Dr. Buchner’s work goes
beyond molecular chaperones: he recently elucidated the mechanisms of the
cellular quality control for antibody folding and assembly, revealing some
unexpected traits; and he discovered a membrane protective stress protein in
yeast.
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The 2011 Christian B. Anfinsen Award
D. Wayne Bolen, Ph.D.
University of Texas Medical Branch
The Christian B. Anfinsen Award, sponsored by The Aviv Family Foundation, recognizes significant technical achievements in the field of protein science. The
2011 award will be presented at the 25th Symposium to Dr. D. Wayne Bolen
(University of Texas Medical Branch) for resolving the long-standing question of
how urea denatures proteins and how compatible osmolytes force folding. Dr.
Bolen’s research shows that the predominant osmolyte effect is on the unfolded
state and is exerted primarily on the backbone common to all proteins. His work
provides essential insight into the underlying folding process whereby urea
unfolds proteins by favoring solvent: co-solvent backbone interactions and,
concomitantly, by disfavoring the native fold, whereas protecting osmolytes do
the opposite. Dr. Bolen’s studies have significantly contributed to protein
biochemists’ understanding that the osmolyte effect is universal throughout all
three kingdoms of life.
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The 2011 Emil Thomas Kaiser Award
Jeffery W. Kelly, Ph.D.
The Scripps Research Institute
The Emil Thomas Kaiser Award, sponsored by The Protein Society, recognizes a recent, highly significant contribution in applying chemistry to the study of proteins. The
2011 award will be presented at the 25th Symposium to Dr. Jeffery Kelly
(The Scripps Research Institute) primarily for his ongoing contributions to our
understanding of the chemical nature of amyloid formation and the application of
this understanding in innovative ways to an amyloid disease as well as
therapeutics design. Dr. Kelly’s research has resulted in an unprecedented
example of a rationally designed therapeutic based on the knowledge and
application of protein science and chemistry to a medical problem: at least one
of the small molecule therapeutics designed and synthesized in the Kelly lab is
shortly expected to be employed in the clinic as therapy for familial amyloid
polyneuropathy, the disease caused by accumulation of transthyretin amyloid.
Dr. Kelly’s other important scientific contributions include: his direct
application of synthetic organic chemistry to the development of compounds that
inhibit amyloid formation in the clinic; his fundamental contributions to the
understanding of the role of particular secondary structures in the
stabilization of protein structure; and most recently, his novel and
wide-ranging thinking upon the physiological role of amyloid.
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The 2011 Irving Sigal Young Investigator Award
Shu-ou Shan, Ph.D.
California Institute of Technology
The Irving Sigal Young
Investigator Award,
sponsored by Merck Research Laboratories, recognizes a significant contribution
to the study of proteins by a scientist who is in the early stages of an
independent career and, generally, not more than 40 years of age at the time of
the award. The
2011 award will be presented at the 25th Symposium to Dr. Shu-ou Shan
(California Institute of Technology) for her pioneering mechanistic studies on
the fidelity of substrate targeting during the process of protein localization
by the signal recognition particle (SRP) system. At the core of Dr. Shan’s
research has been the development of conformationally sensitive probes that
identify different intermediate states so that their interconversions and
energetics can be characterized. Not only has her research had a profound
impact on our understanding of the SRP targeting cycle it has also utilized a
multidisciplinary approach encompassing the disciplines of chemistry,
biochemistry, structural biology, biophysics, and cell biology.
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