[Wigsat-l] Structural biologist recognized for research on molecular motor structure and function

[Sophia Huyer]

Structural biologist recognized for research on molecular motor  
structure and function
2009-02-18 	

EMBO
Meyerhofstrasse 1
69117 Heidelberg
AUSTRIA
communications at embo.org
Tel: 0049 6221 8891 111
http://www.embo.org/about_embo/press/febs_embo_award09.html

Anne Houdusse to receive 2009 FEBS/EMBO Women in Science Award
Heidelberg, 17 February 2009 – The European Molecular Biology  
Organization (EMBO) and the Federation of European Biochemical  
Societies (FEBS) announced Anne Houdusse, head of the Structural  
Motility Team, CNRS/Institute Curie, Paris, France, as the winner of  
the FEBS/EMBO Women in Science Award for 2009. The selection committee  
honoured Anne Houdusse’s outstanding contributions to the field of  
structural biology and the understanding of the molecular mechanism of  
action of myosins.

The FEBS/EMBO Women in Science Award, now in its second year,  
recognizes and rewards the exceptional achievements of a female  
scientist in life sciences research over the previous five years.  
Winners of the award are role models who inspire future generations of  
women in science.

Anne Houdusse has established and clarified the molecular structure  
and function of myosins – a family of motor proteins vital for muscle  
contraction and motility processes such as cell division or transport  
of organelles within cells. She has transferred details seen in atomic  
resolution structures into functional insight and co-developed a  
theory that describes the movement of the molecular motors during  
muscle contraction.

The committee praised Anne’s originality and research creativity as  
well as her courage to tackle difficult areas of science and  
persistence to achieve results.

“We are fortunate to work on a very puzzling and interesting question:  
how motor proteins convert chemical energy to produce force,” said  
Anne Houdusse. “My laboratory’s contribution is just one piece of this  
incredibly complex and important puzzle, and the current picture is  
the fruit of the research lead by many brilliant scientists. By trying  
to understand how to inhibit the activity of specific motors  
responsible for metastasis or cell proliferation we hope to develop  
therapeutic strategies against cancer.”

The award winner credits the support of the Institute Curie and the  
dynamic collaboration with several researchers to contribute to the  
understanding of this fundamental problem in biology.

As group leader at the French National Research for Scientific  
Research (CNRS) Institute Curie in Paris, Anne Houdusse studies the  
structure and function of biological macromolecules, using biophysical  
techniques, particularly X-ray crystallography. She was a post- 
doctoral fellow at the Brandeis University in Massachusets, USA  
(1992-1998) where, with Carolyn Cohen and Andrew Szent Györgyi, she  
laid the foundation for her challenging work on structures of  
conventional myosins. At CNRS, she works closely with the US-American  
biologist Lee Sweeney.

The 2009 FEBS/EMBO Women in Science Award of 10,000 euro will be  
presented to Anne Houdusse on 5 July 2009 at the 34th FEBS Congress in  
Prague, Czech Republic, where she will present a special lecture.

Nominations for the 2010 FEBS/EMBO Women in Science Award close on 1  
September.
Notes to editor:

For more information, please visit: http://www.embo.org/gender/award.html 
  or http://www.febs.org/women-award.
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