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Luis Moroder

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Luis Moroder
Luis Moroder in 2017
Born (1940-12-06) 6 December 1940 (age 83)
Urtijëi, South Tyrol, Kingdom of Italy
NationalityItalian
Alma materUniversity of Padova, University of Pittsburgh, Technical University of Munich
Scientific career
FieldsPeptide chemistry, bioorganic chemistry, biophysical chemistry
InstitutionsMax Planck Institute for Biochemistry

Luis Moroder (born 6 December 1940) is an Italian peptide chemist, who pioneered research on the interactions between peptide hormones and cell membrane-bound hormone receptors. He later expanded this research to other biological systems of medical relevance such as protein inhibitors, collagens, and synthetic proteins. A hallmark of his research is interdisciplinarity as reflected in his use and development of methods in organic chemistry, biophysics and molecular biology. He is a co-editor of the five-volume Houben-Weyl, Methods of Organic Chemistry, Synthesis of Peptides and Peptidomimetics. Since 2008 he is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Peptide Science, the official journal of the European Peptide Society.[1]

Early life, education and career

Moroder studied chemistry at the University of Padova, where he graduated 1965 in chemistry with the doctoral thesis on synthesis of S-peptide of ribonuclease A in the laboratory of Ernesto Scoffone at the Institute of Organic Chemistry.[2] In 1968 he joined Klaus H. Hofmann's Group at the University of Pittsburgh to work on chemical synthesis of the peptidic adrenocorticotropic hormone and its derivatives.[3] Moroder habilitated in 1971 at the University of Padova in Chemistry of Natural Products. 1975 he became a senior research fellow in the Department of Peptide Chemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry (MPIB) in Martinsried headed by Erich Wünsch [de]. Between 1991 and 2008 he was the head of the Laboratory of Bioorganic chemistry at the MPIB.[1] Since 1994 he is an adjunct professor at the Technical University of Munich.

Research

Moroder has started his peptide research with the synthesis of the S-peptide of ribonuclease A and studies on this protein-peptide complex. It was one of the first demonstrations of the key and lock principle in peptide hormone receptor interactions.[4] As research associate he worked on the synthesis of radioactive adrenocorticotropin, which represents one of the first synthetic research works on human peptide hormones.[3] Moroder's work at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Martinsried was initially focused on the gastrin/cholecystokinin system, revealing the mechanism for the membrane-bound pathway of hormone recognition by the receptors.[5] In parallel, he worked on synthetic methods in peptide and protein chemistry such as the introduction of di-tert-butyl dicarbonate as a general and widely used reagent in peptide chemistry,[6] regioselective assembly of cystine-rich peptides,[7] and the synthesis of highly robust disulfide/diselenide scaffolds.[8]

In the later phase of his research, Moroder became increasingly interested in the study of more complex biological and medical systems by chemical means. For example, he addressed fundamental questions of the kinetics of protein folding[9] and actively contributed to the design and synthesis of enzyme inhibitors involved in various diseases, including cancer.[10] In the 1990s Luis Moroder and Robert Huber supported Nediljko Budisa in establishing genetic code engineering in Germany - a research area that merges chemical syntheses with biological complexities in the form of chemical synthetic biology (Xenobiology).[11][12]

Awards and honors (selection)

  • 1995: Max-Bergmann-Medal of the MBK Society[13]
  • 2004: Josef Rudinger Award of the European Peptide Society[14]
  • 2011: Doctor honoris causa, University of Cergy-Pontoise, Paris[2]
  • 2018: Akabori Memorial Lecture Award of the Japanese Peptide Society[15]
  • 2020: Ernesto Scoffone Award of the Italian Peptide Society[16]

Personal life

Luis Moroder grew up in the small ethnic community of Ladins in the Dolomites of South Tyrol/Northern Italy. As a boy he became fascinated by natural science while accompanying his father Heinrich on mineralogical, paleontological and archaeological excursions in the mountain world of his homeland with discoveries of various fossiles that are exemplary shown in the Museum Gherdeina. He is married to Anne Marie Hellrigl-Moroder with one daughter.

References

  1. ^ a b "Luis Moroder | Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry". Max Planck Institute. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Detailed CV - cv_moroder.pdf" (PDF). Max Planck Institute. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  3. ^ a b Moroder, L.; Hofmann, K. (1970). "Studies on polypeptides. XLVI. Synthesis of a stably labeled, biologically active adrenocorticotropin fragment". J Med Chem. 13 (5): 839–843. doi:10.1021/jm00299a010. PMID 4318767.
  4. ^ Moroder, L.; Borin, G.; Marchiori, F.; Rocchi, R.; Scoffone, E. (1973). "Kinetic and physical chemical studies on partially synthetic ribonuclease S-analogs". Peptides 1971, Proc. XIth Europ. Peptide Symposium. Amsterdam: North Holland. pp. 367–372.
  5. ^ Moroder, L.; Romano, R.; Guba, W.; Mierke, D. F.; Kessler, H.; Delporte, C.; Winand, J.; Christophe, J. (1993). "New evidence for a membrane-bound pathway in hormone receptor binding". Biochemistry. 32 (49): 13551–13559. doi:10.1021/bi00212a022. PMID 7504952.
  6. ^ Moroder, L.; Hallett, A.; Wünsch, E.; Keller, O.; Wersin, G. (1976). "Di-tert-Butyldicarbonat: ein vorteilhaftes Reagenz zur Einführung der tert-Butyloxycarbonyl-Schutzgruppe" [Di-tert-butyl-dicarbonate, a useful tert-butyloxycarbonylating reagent]. Hoppe-Seyler's Z. Physiol. Chem. 357 (11): 1651–1653. doi:10.1515/bchm2.1976.357.2.1651. PMID 1002132.
  7. ^ Moroder, L.; Musiol, H.-J.; Götz, M.; Renner, C. (2005). "Synthesis of single- and multiple-stranded cystine-rich peptides". Biopolymers. 80 (2–3): 85–97. doi:10.1002/bip.20174. PMID 15612050. S2CID 3213208.
  8. ^ Besse, D.; Siedler, F.; Diercks, T.; Kessler, H.; Moroder, L. (1997). "The redox potential of selenocystine in unconstrained cyclic peptides". Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 36 (8): 883–885. doi:10.1002/anie.199708831.
  9. ^ Bredenbeck, J.; Helbing, J.; Sieg, A.; Schrader, T.; Zinth, W.; Wachtveitl, J.; Renner, C.; Behrendt, R.; Moroder, L.; Hamm, P. (2003). "Picosecond conformational transition and equilibration of a cyclic peptide". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 100 (11): 6452–6457. Bibcode:2003PNAS..100.6452B. doi:10.1073/pnas.1036583100. PMC 164467. PMID 12736378.
  10. ^ Loidl, G.; Groll, M.; Musiol, H.-J.; Huber, R.; Moroder, L. (1999). "Bivalency as a principle for proteasome inhibition". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 96 (10): 5418–5422. Bibcode:1999PNAS...96.5418L. doi:10.1073/pnas.96.10.5418. PMC 21874. PMID 10318898.
  11. ^ Budisa, N.; Minks, C.; Medrano, F. J.; Lutz, J.; Huber, R.; Moroder, L. (1998). "Residue-specific bioincorporation of non-natural, biologically active amino acids into proteins as possible drug carriers: structure and stability of the per-thiaproline mutant of annexin V". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 95 (2): 455–459. Bibcode:1998PNAS...95..455B. doi:10.1073/pnas.95.2.455. PMC 18441. PMID 9435213.
  12. ^ Moroder, L.; Budisa, N. (2010). "Synthetic biology of protein folding". ChemPhysChem. 11 (6): 1181–1187. doi:10.1002/cphc.201000035. PMID 20391526.
  13. ^ "Max-Bergmann-Medaille - Max Bergmann Kreis e.V." Max Bergmann Kreis e.V. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  14. ^ "Josef Rudinger Memorial Award - European Peptide Society". European Peptide Society. May 18, 2016. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  15. ^ "Akabori Memorial Award | The Japanese Peptide Society". Japanese Peptide Society. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  16. ^ "Votazioni on line, Premio Scoffone per l'anno 2020: estensione voto al 20 Aprile 2020". Italian Peptide Society. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
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