U.S. Scientist Receives Otto Warburg Medal Sponsored by QIAGEN

Susan Lindquist Recognized for Contributing to Molecular Understanding of Parkinson's Disease

02-Apr-2008

American scientist Susan Lindquist, Ph.D., was awarded the Otto Warburg Medal in Mosbach, Germany. The medal is considered the most prestigious German award for biochemists and molecular biologists, and is awarded by the German Association of biochemistry and molecular biology (GBM). Seven recipients of the Otto Warburg Medal have subsequently received the Nobel Prize. This year's prize was sponsored by Qiagen. Dr. Lindquist is member of the Whitehead Institute, professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The award recognized her research into the field of protein folding, allowing a greater understanding of serious diseases like Parkinson's. proteins are essential components of all organisms and participate in every process within cells. Susan Lindquist has dedicated her research to these biomolecules, particularly to how they manage to build their shape - a process called protein folding. One of her important findings is that a dysfunction in the folding of the molecules' three-dimensional structure can have profound influence on the development of human diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Lindquist and colleagues have developed yeast strains that serve as living test tubes in which these disorders can be studied, revealing the role of protein folding. For instance, she has succeeded in reproducing many of the biological consequences of Parkinson's in yeast cells and her team is screening for drugs to prevent and treat the disease. Lindquist's wide-ranging investigations in protein folding also have included prions - the so-called small proteinaceous infectious particles. Prions are proteins that can change into a self-perpetuating infective form. They have become well-known in the last decades as the cause of the mad cow and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Lindquist investigated how prions form and then trigger these diseases.