Nominator's project description
| Professor Ringe is one of the pioneers in the field of structural enzymology. She has used three-dimensional structure information to deduce the details of numerous enzymatic reaction mechanisms. She is particularly well known for her work on vitamin B6 containing enzymes, where she elucidated how the protein environment controls the chemistry of this extremely important cofactor. She developed the fragment-based drug discovery method that is used throughout the pharmaceutical industry, by showing that small organic groups can be used to map the binding surface of any crystalline protein. She also was one of the pioneers in the use of crystallography to probe the dynamics of proteins. Recently, she has become interested in proteins involved in neurodegenerative diseases, and has begun to apply structural insights and methodologies to the discovery of novel drugs for these disorders. During her stay in Germany she will work on the effects of L-beta-methylaminoalanine, a small molecule believed to be the cause of a mixture of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's like symptoms in humans. |
