Mentions in the media of the transmission of Staphylococcus or Streptococcus are usually connected with severe illness and sometimes death. Doctoral research conducted by Veronika Papoušková, who was given an award at Dies Academicus, represents one fragment of a complex mosaic whose composition may allow us to prevent such severe illness.
“We were lucky, and luck is needed in science," says Papoušková with reference to her research and the acclaim her methods have earned. It was hard work, too: the young scientist spent thousands of hours in a laboratory exploring mechanisms that occur on the microscopic scale of ten to the power of minus-nine metres.
What was it all about? A member of the research group NMR Biomolecular Spectroscopy at Ceitec, Papoušková is striving to clarify the structure and function of one of the sub-units of RNA polymerase, which is applied in the transcription of DNA to RNA. “The function and structure of RNA polymerase is known only for the most basic types of bacteria," Papoušková explains. Such basic bacteria include Escherichia coli, a Gram-negative bacterium that for its relative simplicity is a popular model mechanism among scientists.
Gram-positive bacteria include Staphylococcus and Streptococcus, which are known for the danger they pose to humans. And it is this group – which is so complicated that scientists rarely study it – that interests award-winning biochemist Papoušková. “We are not studying Staphylococcus itself but a simpler model organism called Bacillus subtilis," she explains. Even before she started on her work Papoušková knew from colleagues at the Institute of Microbiology of the Academy of Sciences that this organism differed from commonly studied Gram-negative bacteria by the existence of a sub-unit known as delta, which is the Achilles heel of pathogenic bacteria. Targeted intervention in such a protein may succeed in destroying dangerous bacteria, including Staphylococcus.
New methods = original findings
In addition, it is necessary to study the protein's structure down to the smallest detail. And this was the focus of Papoušková's work. Not only did she produce original findings, she was the first scientist in the Czech Republic to use new experimental methods.
She now teaches these at the Faculty of Science. Although her research continues, she has become a manager of certain research projects. Papoušková explains the change in direction thus: “I agree that postgrads finishing off their doctorates should go abroad and pay special attention to their own development. For personal reasons, this wasn't really possible for me."
But she praises a procedure that is not altogether standard in academe. “I can make use of other abilities and still be involved in research. I sit at the same desk, so I'm always in close contact with the people whose projects I look after."