Heme-Containing Sensor Proteins The Group of M. Martinkova

During December 4 to 6 Markéta attended meeting with other TARGET members at Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands (Václav and Petr were joined online).

First lab meeting in the new academic year 2022/2023 was held on Friday 4th of November, 2022

Marketa presented an invited plenary lecture titled “The structure and function relationships of heme-containing oxygen sensors” at XXIth International meeting on Oxygen binding and sensing proteins, Rome, Italy – September 6- 9, 2022

Jakub presented a lecture at XXIth International meeting on Oxygen binding and sensing proteins, Rome, Italy – September 6- 9, 2022

Marketa presented an invited plenary lecture titled “Heme, a Molecule of Key Processes Associated with Health and Disease” at 11th Barrande-Vltava French-Czech Chemistry Meeting, Dijon, 28–30 August 2022

We have published a review in the Czech language in a last national chemical journal “Chemické listy” on the heme sensors called in English “The Novel Role of Heme in Health and Diseases – Heme-Containing Sensor Proteins”  (Martínková M.: Chem. Listy 116, 163–171 (2022). https://doi.org/10.54779/chl20220163).

From February 1st, 2022, for the next four years, Marketa is appointed the vice-rector of Charles University for students’ affairs. The following picture is from the inauguration ceremony of the new rector of Charles University, prof. Milena Kraličková, which was held on March 3rd at Karolinum.

110 years of the elucidation of the chemical structure of hemin: at the beginning of the 20th century, a real race had broken out for the elucidation of the chemical structural formula of the blood pigment. In 1912 William Küster developed a formula for the complicated hemin molecule (Biol. Chem./Hoppe-Seyler, 1912, 82, 6), which Hans Fischer was largely able to confirm through the synthesis of the substance in 1928. Fischer received the Nobel Prize for this in 1930 – if Küster had still been alive then, he might have been awarded together with Fischer. He had been nominated for the Nobel Prize as early as 1913. (from https://www.unimuseum.uni-tuebingen.de/)

60 years of awarding the Nobel prize to Perutz and Kendrew for elucidating the hemoglobin structure: for being the first to successfully identify the structures of complex proteins, Max F. Perutz and John C. Kendrew were rewarded with the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1962. Perhaps fate ensured that Perutz and Kendrew were joined by a very familiar face who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine that year. As well as Maurice Wilkins and James Watson, the third Laureate receiving the Prize for his work on the structure of DNA was the daring and outspoken student who had fuelled Perutz’s desire to solve the phase problem, Francis Crick.   (from https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1962/perspectives/)