Professor Ben Berks elected Fellow of the Royal Society
Professor Ben Berks: "This award also reflects the many contributions that my group members and collaborators have made to my research"
Ben Berks is one of 51 scientists elected to the Royal Society this year
Ben is a co-discoverer of the bacterial Tat (twin-arginine translocation) system which is the second most widely distributed protein transport system in biology. Very unusually, Tat is able to transport fully folded proteins across membranes while preventing the leak ions and small molecules. Together with many valued colleagues, Ben has pursued multidisciplinary efforts to understand how this is achieved. More recently he has identified and characterized the protein transporter of the Type IX Secretion System involved in protein export by dental pathogens. Ben has also made significant contributions to our understanding of Tat-targeted enzymes involved in the metabolism of inorganic nitrogen, sulphur, and phosphorus species.
Ben is a recipient of the Fleming Award of the Microbiology Society and is a Wellcome Trust Investigator.
Deepa Nath
29th April 2020
