Susan Marqusee, faculty scientist in the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division, is the recipient of the 2018 Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Award, sponsored by Genentech, which is granted in recognition of exceptional contributions in protein science that profoundly influence our understanding of biology. Marqusee, a biophysical chemist whose work focuses on protein folding and dynamics, is one of the world’s top experimental scientists in the field of protein folding. Her work has led to the most complete characterization of a protein energy landscape and provided a rigorous and unprecedented detailed analysis of the diffusion of a folding protein on this energy surface, testing in this manner key models of protein folding.
Marqusee, who is also Director of QB3 and Eveland Warren Endowed Chair Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology at UC Berkeley, is known for many contributions, including the first de novo design of a short peptide that folded into a specific structure (alpha helix), the application of novel hydrogen exchange methods to measure rare partially-structured conformers, and the mechanical manipulation of single-protein molecules. Her work has produced the most detailed view of the energy landscape of a protein. Her work impacts areas of biology ranging from deciphering the effects of genome variation to the mechanism of protein misfolding pathologies. Learn about Marqusee’s research and the other recipients of the 2018 Protein Society Awards.
