Research published by Doctor at Hormel Institute selected as “Editor’s Pick” in prestigious journal

An article published by The Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota’s Jarrod French, PhD, Associate Professor and leader of the Nucleotide Metabolism and Drug Discovery research section has been selected as an “Editor’s Pick” in the prestigious Journal of Biological Chemistry.

The journal’s “Editor’s Pick” recognizes work that provides an exceptional contribution to the field.  The article, titled “Human Uridine 5′-Monophosphate Synthase Stores Metabolic Potential in Inactive Biomolecular Condensates” focuses on an enzyme called uridine 5’-monophosphate synthase (UMPS). UMPS is an essential protein that can cause devastating diseases when it is defective but can also be targeted by drugs to treat cancer and viruses.

Using The Hormel Institute’s state of the art Cryo-EM Facility, which houses a 300kv Titan Krios, one of the world’s most powerful electron microscopes, Dr. French and his team discovered a new structure that explains how cells make the pyrimidines needed for DNA. Pyrimidines play a central role in cellular regulation and metabolism, which are important processes that can be altered in cancer cells.

The full article can be found here: https://www.jbc.org/article/S0021-9258(23)00081-
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