Agne Kazlauskaite, a PhD student in Miratul Muqit and Dario Alessi's labs, has been awarded the 2015 Dundee Prize for Cell and Molecular Biology for her seminal contributions to the mechanistic understanding of how the Parkinson's disease associated kinase PINK1 activates the Parkin E3 ubiquitin ligase. In particular Agne's work highlighted the critical role for PINK1-dependent phosphorylation of Parkin at the highly conserved residue, Serine 65 that lies within the N-terminal Ubiquitin-like domain and the phosphorylation of ubiquitin at the equivalent Serine 65 residue.

The Dundee Prize for Cell Biology is awarded for excellence in basic research recognising novel high impact discoveries of basic mechanisms or new methods that advance the field. Previous MRC-PPU recipients of the prize include Lina Herhaus (2013) and Anna Zagorska (2010) who were former PhD students in Gopal Sapkota and Dario Alessi's labs respectively.

To read a copy of Agne's paper describing the work for which the prize was awarded click here.