Bookmark and Share

UK Royal Society 2000 Fellows

Cyrus Chothia and Ian A. Wilson have been made Fellows of the Royal Society of the UK. Cyrus Chothia (Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, England), has shown how the amino acid sequences of proteins determine their structure, function, and evolution. From an analysis of their structural regularities, he developed a classification of protein structures that is now in general use. His picture of protein evolution suggests how protein diverge and gain new functions. He has contributed to the understanding of how their apparently limited set of slightly different structures allows immunoglobulin to recognize an almost limitless variety of different antigens. Ian A. Wilson (Skaggs Inst. for Chemical Biology, Scripps Research Inst., La Jolla, CA) is noted for structural studies that have led to significant advances in understanding molecular recognition in the immune system and signaling by cytokine hormone receptors. His achievements include the structures of the T-cell receptor and its complex with a major histocompatibility complex peptide, the erythropoietin receptor, antibody-antigen complexes, catalytic antibody mechanisms, and the influenza virus hemagglutinin. His work has attracted recognition for the elegance of the structural solution to important biological problems.

from the BCA Newsletter