Old notices
These pages collect together notices posted on the IUCr web site in past years. They are retained for archival interest, but there is no guarantee (or likelihood) that many of the web links found in these notices will still be active.
Gregori Aminoff Prize in Crystallography 2018
Fri, Sep 15, 2017 08:00 CET
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Gregori Aminoff Prize in Crystallography 2018 to Professor Piet Gros from Utrecht University in the Netherlands, “for his fundamental contributions to understanding the complement system-mediated innate immune response”. The prize amount is SEK 100,000.
The complement system, which is part of our immune system, plays an important role in the body’s defences against bacteria and viruses. This year’s Laureate has made revolutionary discoveries in this field.
When the complement system is activated, more than 30 different proteins interact in a highly intricate cascade-like manner. Professor Piet Gros has succeeded in producing crystals from many complement proteins and determining their three-dimensional structures. He has also studied the complicated protein complexes formed by these proteins and succeeded in clarifying their three-dimensional structures. Through his research, Piet Gros has been able to describe in detail the molecular mechanisms that lead to the activation of the complement system and which explain this protein system’s effects on the immune system.
Congenital and acquired defects in the complement system have recently proven to be the cause of many different medical conditions, so detailed knowledge of the molecular mechanisms that are part of the complement system is therefore vital.
Piet Gros’ research is potentially of significant medical importance; the structural information that has been produced is a foundation for the development of new treatments for various autoimmune, inflammatory and degenerative diseases.
Piet Gros’ research group has been world-leading in this field and is responsible for most of the structural knowledge of this important and complex protein system.
The Prize Ceremony will be held at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences’ Annual Meeting on 13 April 2018.
The Prize Lecture will be held on 12 April, at Lund University, Skåne University Hospital in Malmö.
This press release and image is taken from The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences website. The link to the original press release can be found here.You can see a full list of IUCr papers published by Professor Gros by clicking here.
