Dr. Michael James

Michael James is the first and preeminent protein crystallographer in Canada. He established a school in the discipline which has, so far, provided professors for three other Canadian universities. He was the first to determine the atomic resolution structure of a bacterial protease, and his establishment of several of these permitted detailed comparisons with their mammalian counterparts, leading to profound deductions about their evolutionary relationships and reaction mechanisms. Several of the structure determinations (a-lytic protease, penicillopepsin and tonin) involved collaborations with scientists at other Canadian universities, attesting to his leadership role in national science. He has pushed the structures of the proteases under consideration to exceptionally high resolution (15Å or atomic level) and combined this with binding studies of appropriate substrate analogues, leading to new and bold proposals for the chemical mechanisms of the reactions catalysed by these enzymes. His coherent body of work, summarized in 80 original publications, has brought him wide international recognition, favourable comments in "Nature", and several prestigious awards.