Dr. Lewis Kay
In the Editorial introducing this special issue [J Biomol NMR (2011) vol 51], Kevin Gardner, Anthony Mittermeier and Frans Mulder note that Lewis is being honoured for his “innovative contributions to biomolecular NMR spectroscopy, as well as for his role as inspirer for a large group of young research professionals.”
They further comment that “Lewis has consistently been a pioneer in the development of novel methods essential to increasing the size of proteins that may be studied by NMR… His lab forged ahead with clever biochemical tricks for incorpo- rating protonated methyl groups in otherwise deuterated proteins, and developed methyl TROSY experiments that permit well-resolved spectra to be obtained for high molecular weight complexes, extending to 1 MDa.”
“In addition, the Kay lab has extensively developed and applied new methodologies for studying low-populated states of proteins and their roles in biology. Building on transverse relaxation dispersion experiments, the Kay lab has introduced approaches to elucidate the three-dimensional structures and dynamics of protein states so weakly populated that they are ‘‘invisible’’ to standard NMR experiments and most other biophysical and structural techniques.”
