“This award is valuable recognition of the research that I and my colleagues are pursuing together. Research is often rather lonely work and it feels particularly encouraging when the outside world takes notes of one´s efforts. This empowers us to continue with our studies, energising us to hopefully participate in further discoveries down the line," says Maria Falkenberg Gustafsson, Associate professor in Medical and Physiological Chemistry at the Sahlgrenska Academy.  

She also recently received the Fernström Prize which is awarded to particularly promising researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy.

Maria Falkenberg Gustafsson and her research team study the tiny DNA molecule that is found in the mitochondrion. Mitochondria are small units inside the cells whose task is to form the ATP molecule that the cells need as their source of energy. “There are several unusual — often very serious — diseases that are caused by malfunctioning mitochondria. The mitochondria have their own genes, which are crucial for the formation of the ATP energy molecule, and Maria Falkenberg Gustafsson´s work focuses on increasing know-how about how this genetic material functions and how it differs from cell nucleus DNA."

A new study was recently published in the highly regarded publication Molecular Cell. There it was reported that the research team have for the first time shown how replication of the mitochondrion´s DNA is initiated. The researchers have been able to describe the process in detail and have also recreated the process in a test tube environment.

“There are at present a number of diseases caused by disruptions in the mechanism that handles of mitochondrial DNA. With our new method, we can study the consequences of these disruptions at the molecular level and in that way help explain how this group of diseases can arise," explains Maria Falkenberg Gustafsson. These diseases cannot be treated today and she hopes that the team´s discovery will ultimately help promote new treatment methods.

FACTS ABOUT THE SVEN AND EBBA-CHRISTINA HAGBERG FOUNDATION  
The Sven and Ebba-Christina Hagberg Foundation aims to stimulate and further scientific research in a variety of areas, including in medicine and biochemistry. Every year it awards a personal prize and a research stipend to one outstanding young male and one outstanding young female researcher in Sweden. The foundation gives about 0.7 million kronor every year to promising scientists in Sweden. Every second year the award goes to researchers in the medical field, and every other year it is given to researchers in the field of biochemistry. The biochemistry prize is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, while the prize for medicine is awarded by the Karolinska Institutet.

For more information please contact:
Associate Professor Maria Falkenberg Gustafsson,
phone +46 31-786 34 44, +46 73-230 91 19,
email: maria.falkenberg@medkem.gu.se

Publication: Molecular Cell 2010, 37:67-78 Article title: Mitochondrial RNA Polymerase Is Needed for Activation of the Origin of Light-Strand DNA Replication
Authors: Javier Miralles Fusté, Sjoerd Wanrooij, Elisabeth Jemt, Caroline E. Granycome, Tricia J. Cluett, Yonghong Shi, Neli Atanassova, Ian J. Holt, Claes M. Gustafsson and Maria Falkenberg.

Source: Gothenburg University