Human Frontier Science Program awards $1.35M to Dr. Tokuriki for his collaborative project on enzyme evolution

Dr. Nobuhiko Tokuriki, Associate Professor at the Michael Smith Laboratories and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, is lead researcher on a newly awarded project funded by Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) titled the “Evolution of conformational and kinetic ensembles during functional transitions”. The project will be funded over the next three years with a total of 1.35M USD.

The HFSP Research Grants support innovative basic research into fundamental biological problems with emphasis placed on novel and interdisciplinary approaches that involve scientific exchanges across national and disciplinary boundaries. Tokuriki who has expertise in protein evolution, enzymology and biochemistry, is joined by international colleagues Dr. Silvia Osuna (University of Girona, Spain) who brings computational biochemistry and molecular simulations, Dr. James Fraser, (University of California San Francisco, USA) contributes with expertise in protein biophysics, and Dr. Hiroyuki Noji, (University of Tokyo, Japan) adds with proficiency in single-molecule enzymology. Together they will seek to unveil atomic-resolution picture of conformational and catalytic changes during the evolutionary transitions between enzymatic functions, which will shed light on the molecular principle of enzyme evolution.

To learn more about the Tokuriki Lab and their research, please visit https://tokurikilab.msl.ubc.ca/