Tereza Šustrová won the prestigious Young Czech Mind award for talented youth in the category GENUS “Nature around us”. A student at Brno grammar school, Tereza, who has been studying the structural and biochemical analysis of nanoluciferase, carried out her research in Masaryk University’s laboratories as part of her secondary school vocational activity (SOČ). In June, her work won her the national SOČ competition under the category Molecular Biology.
This talented high school student has been studying the structural and biochemical analysis of nanoluciferase, the most brilliant light-producing enzyme in the world, whose catalytic mechanism was unknown. To address this, she investigated the enzyme’s atomic-level structure and how luciferin molecules, small organic molecules that serve as fuel for the luciferase reaction, bind to its active site. Guiding her studies was Martin Marek from the Loschmidt laboratories at Masaryk University’s Faculty of Science, the International Clinical Research Centre of the Faculty Hospital at St. Anne in Brno (ICRC FNUSA) and Masaryk University’s Faculty of Medicine (LF MU).
Tereza admits that she sacrificed a significant part of her free time and holidays to research this project. “During the school year, I went to the laboratory one or two days a week, and then during the summer holidays I worked there continuously for several weeks. Sometimes it wasn’t easy, but I got the opportunity to devote myself fully to something that I enjoy, something that gives meaning and hope for a sustainable future”, said Tereza, when describing her demanding research programme, which was called “Reprogramming luciferin-substrate specificity in NanoLuc luciferase”.
Tereza’s work made a significant contribution to clarifying the hitherto unexplored molecular mechanism underlying illumination in this enzyme, which is now used as a high-performance light source for imaging biological processes within single cells or entire organisms. The results of her work have inspired engineers, who are trying to construct alternative, nature-inspired lighting sources that are both sustainable and nature-friendly. Tereza is one of the main co-authors of a scientific article revealing the molecular principles behind the functioning of this mysterious protein, which has just been accepted for publication in the prestigious journal Nature Communications.
“In the Loschmidt laboratories, we educate students systematically, giving them the chance to actively participate in research projects. It is always exciting to watch how the students improve step-by-step in laboratory work, from the first simple experiments to the solving of highly demanding scientific questions, as Tereza has just demonstrated”, added her supervisor, Martin Marek.
Since September of this year, Tereza has once again been devoting herself fully to her school duties at Brno High School, class captain Jaroš, and is now preparing for her matriculation exam and admission to her dream university.
The Young Czech Mind Award for the best scientific work from a high school student has been awarded since 2007 and is the most prestigious award for talented youth. This year’s laureates were selected on the basis of nominations by an expert jury consisting of leading Czech scientists, such as Václav Hořejší, Jiří Grygar, Zdeňko Kůs and others. The prize is awarded in the following categories: MERKUR “Man and Society”, the VŠE prize, GENUS “Nature around us”, luciferaseINTENTIO “Sustainable development”, the Charles University prize, FUTURA “Solutions for the future”, IDEA StatiCa prize, robotSANITAS “Life and health of a person”, the award of the Česká hlava PROJEKT company, UNIVERSUM “Man and Exact Sciences” and the award of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles Universtity.
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