MBI Paper Award for 2014 to professor Nathalie Reuter and her colleagues

The 2014 MBI Paper Award went to Nathalie Reuter and her group for the paper:

“Two homologous neutrophil serine proteases bind to POPC vesicles with different affinities: When aromatic amino acids matter.” by Anne-Sophie Schillinger, Cedric Grauffel, Hanif Muhammad Khan, Øyvind Halskau, and Nathalie Reuter, published in Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 1838:3191-3202 (2014).

Serine proteinase 3 (PR3) is a secreted protease that becomes associated with surface of neutrophile white blood cells. Due to its peculiar localisation on the cell surface, it has been suggested that PR3 plays an important role in the patho-physiology of chronic inflammatory diseases. Using both biophysical methods (surface plasmon resonance) and computational molecular dynamics simulations, professor Reuter and her team were able to measure and model how aromatic amino acids (phenylalanine and tryptophan) on the surface of PR3 can mediate insertion of the enzyme into the membrane. 

The jury said that the article was chosen “because this work represents a solid piece of work highlighting a great example of 1) collaborative work not only within MBI but also between 2 research programs and 2) multidisciplinary accomplishment”.