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Honorary Skou Professor Seminar

Chikashi Toyoshima, University of Tokyo: "What is the activation signal for phosphoryl transfer in the calcium pump? – Lessons from recent studies of Ca-ATPase structures"

27.09.2019 | Zitta Glattrup Nygaard

Dato man 07 okt
Tid 11:00 12:00
Sted Small Anatomy auditorium, Building 1231-424 (4th floor)

On October 8, Chikashi Toyoshima will be inaugurated as an Honorary Skou Professor, motivated by his outstanding contribution to the research in ion transporting ATPases, which has been a central theme at Aarhus University, since the discovery of the Na,K-ATPase by our late Nobel Laureate Jens Christian Skou in 1957.

In 2000, Toyoshima published the first high-resolution crystal structure of a member of the P-type ATPase family, the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca-ATPase, revealing for the first time the location of the bound calcium ions in the protein. In the following years, he determined the structures of several Ca-ATPase intermediate forms of the reaction cycle, thereby allowing understanding of the transport process at atomic level.

In 2009 and 2013 Toyoshima published – in collaboration with scientists from Aarhus University, Health – high resolution crystal structures of the Na,K-ATPase in the respective K- and Na-bound forms, thus providing fundamental key insight in how the enzyme distinguishes Na from K, so that these ions are pumped in opposite directions. Jens Christian Skou’s comment was: "It is an impressive achievement and something I haven't even dared dreaming of". The picture of Toyoshima and Jens Chr. Skou was taken in 2013.

Kind regards,

Bente Vilsen
Skou Professor Champion

Seminar, Forskning, Offentligheden/Pressen, Health, Institut for Biomedicin, Ph.d.-studerende, Institut for Biomedicin, Teknisk/administrativ medarbejder, Videnskabelig medarbejder