Research Associates Drs. Nagata and Nagao Receive Awards at the 3rd FEBS Special Meeting

March 16, 2010

Drs. Koh Nagata and Kohjiro Nagao, members of the Ueda Lab at Kyoto University's Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS), were both awarded prizes at the 3rd FEBS Special Meeting, "ATP-Binding Cassette (ABC) Proteins: From Multidrug Resistance to Genetic Diseases", held February 27 to March 5 in Innsbruck, Austria.

Of 176 abstracts submitted in advance of the conference, Dr. Nagata's was one of only 12 chosen to deliver a 12-minute talk followed by three minutes for questions. Of these 12, her presentation, "Analysis of ABCA1 Dynamics in the Plasma Membrane by Single-Molecule Tracking", received the top prize, "ABC2010 Young Investigator Award -- Short Talk". Employing single-molecule imaging techniques developed by the iCeMS' Kusumi Lab, Dr. Nagata's elucidation of transport mechanisms left a deep impression not only on the judges but on the audience as well, who asked her considerably more questions than they did of any of the other speakers.

Dr. Nagao's poster, entitled "Sodium taurocholate-dependent lipid efflux by ABCA1 -- Four-step model for HDL formation" and consisting of a biochemical analysis of ABC transport mechanisms, was one of just 10 selected for a SAB Recognized Poster Award out of the total 176 posters.

Dr. Nagata's Young Investigator Award certificate and prize