GSCN 2022 Publication of the Year Award
The researchers Adam C. O’Neill, Fatma Uzbas, Giulia Antognolli and Florencia Merino as well as Magdalena Götz at Helmholtz Munich and Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (LMU) receive the “GSCN 2022 Publication of the Year Award” for their joint publication “Spatial centrosome proteome of human neural cells uncovers disease-relevant heterogeneity” in the journal Science.
Centrosomes are central organelles of a cell, responsible – among other things – for the organization of the cytoskeleton during cell division. Malfunctions of the human centrosome are associated with many neurodevelopmental disorders. Until now, it was assumed that the centrosome is very similar in all cells due to its general tasks. Magdalena Götz and her research group investigated this assumption in neurons and neural stem cells. In their study, the scientists show: in contrast to the original assumptions, centrosomes vary in their protein composition in different cell types. The new centrosome analysis reveals new associations with malformations in the brain and shows that the location of a protein is crucial for a disease. Most importantly, these findings allowed understanding how ubiquitous proteins can have a brain-specific phenotype when mutated in diseases.
The prize was awarded at the GSCN Conference 2022 in Münster. Fatma Uzbas gave the award lecture on behalf of her colleagues and received the prize. The GSCN has been networking stem cell researchers working in Germany nationally and internationally since 2013 and communicates their results and research to a broad public.
Another highlight of the ceremony: Nobel laureate Prof Dr Shinya Yamanaka (Japan) was invited by the president of the GSCN as a special guest to give a lecture at the presidential symposium. In addition to personal congratulations from the renowned scientist, a joint picture of the laureate Fatma Uzbas and the Nobel prize winner was also taken.
Original publication:
O’Neill, Uzbas, Antognolli, Merino et al., 2022: Spatial centrosome proteome of human neural cells uncovers disease-relevant heterogeneity. Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.abf9088.
More information:
Read our press release of the publication
Persons in the picture (from left to right): Daniel Besser (Executive Director GSCN), Hans Schöler (President GSCN, MPI for Molecular Biomedicine Münster), Shinya Yamanaka (Nobel Laureate in Physiology and Medicine 2012), Fatma Uzbas (GSCN Laureate of the Publication Award 2022, Helmholtz Munich and Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich), Meritxell Huch (MPI for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden), Oliver Brüstle (University Hospital Bonn)
