A Pathfinder in High-Pressure Bioscience: In Memoriam of Gaston Hui Bon Hoa

Dmitri R. Davydov; Christiane Jung; Gregory A. Petsko; Stephen G. Sligar; Jack A. Kornblatt

doi:10.3390/biology10080778

A Pathfinder in High-Pressure Bioscience: In Memoriam of Gaston Hui Bon Hoa

Dmitri R. Davydov, Christiane Jung, Gregory A. Petsko, Stephen G. Sligar, Jack A. Kornblatt

Biochemistry

Research output: Contribution to journal › Editorial

Original language	English (US)
Article number	778
Journal	Biology
Volume	10
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/biology10080778
State	Published - Aug 2021

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
Immunology and Microbiology(all)
Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)

Online availability

10.3390/biology10080778License: CC BY

Library availability

Discover UIUC Full Text

Cite this

@article{1f899ce358bd4155bc51e0cda6292b7a,

title = "A Pathfinder in High-Pressure Bioscience: In Memoriam of Gaston Hui Bon Hoa",

author = "Davydov, {Dmitri R.} and Christiane Jung and Petsko, {Gregory A.} and Sligar, {Stephen G.} and Kornblatt, {Jack A.}",

note = "Funding Information: In addition to being an inspiring scientist, Gaston was a good friend and, as I realized, a great family man. I fondly remember a trip with his family in 1991 to the Pont de Normandie near Le Havre and Honfleur, a beautiful little French port town in Normandy near the Seine estuary in the English Channel. In addition, I had the pleasure of attending his 80th birthday party in Paris seven years ago. I will always remember Gaston. Dmitri R. Davydov I first met Gaston Hui Bon Hoa at the international conference on Cytochromes P450 in Moscow in 1991. At that moment, the focus of my studies was (and remains to be) on the catalytic mechanisms and the protein–protein interactions of cytochromes P450. I knew very little about the effects of hydrostatic pressure on proteins and their use in biophysical studies. Still, I knew Gaston{\textquoteright}s name from his publications on the impact of pressure on P450cam [7,24]. My attention was drawn to Gaston{\textquoteright}s presentation at the meeting. It spurred my interest in the use of pressure perturbation. I got captivated by his enthusiasm and ideas on how pressure perturbation may be used in P450 research. Soon, I joined his research group in the laboratory of Pierre Douzou in IBPC in Paris as an INSERM fellow (“poste verte”). It was a wonderful time. I enjoyed the creative atmosphere in the lab and admired Gaston{\textquoteright}s engineering ingenuity. Besides researching pressure-induced transitions in P450 2B4 (which I brought from my lab in Moscow) [5,25], I also participated in Gaston{\textquoteright}s engineering efforts. I designed data acquisition and analysis software for high-pressure spectroscopy, which became a core of my SpectraLab software that I still use in my research. At the end of my fellowship, we were successful in acquiring an INSERM collaborative grant followed by an INTAS multilateral research grant. This funding allowed us to continue our collaboration [9,26,27]. From 1993 to 1999, I enjoyed visiting Gaston{\textquoteright}s lab several times a year. After my move to the US, our collaboration continued [6], and in 2002, Gaston visited me in the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB, Galveston, TX) to install his high-pressure equipment, which I still use in my research. Later, we met several times in San Diego, Paris, and other places. Owing to my collaboration with Gaston, pressure perturbation became an integral part of my research strategy, and the effects of pressure on proteins became another focus of my scientific interests. I enjoyed our collaboration and friendship a lot. Besides being a talented experimentalist and prominent scientist, he was also a wonderful person and a good friend.",

year = "2021",

month = aug,

doi = "10.3390/biology10080778",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "10",

journal = "Biology",

issn = "2079-7737",

publisher = "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)",

number = "8",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - A Pathfinder in High-Pressure Bioscience: In Memoriam of Gaston Hui Bon Hoa

AU - Davydov, Dmitri R.

AU - Jung, Christiane

AU - Petsko, Gregory A.

AU - Sligar, Stephen G.

AU - Kornblatt, Jack A.

N1 - Funding Information: In addition to being an inspiring scientist, Gaston was a good friend and, as I realized, a great family man. I fondly remember a trip with his family in 1991 to the Pont de Normandie near Le Havre and Honfleur, a beautiful little French port town in Normandy near the Seine estuary in the English Channel. In addition, I had the pleasure of attending his 80th birthday party in Paris seven years ago. I will always remember Gaston. Dmitri R. Davydov I first met Gaston Hui Bon Hoa at the international conference on Cytochromes P450 in Moscow in 1991. At that moment, the focus of my studies was (and remains to be) on the catalytic mechanisms and the protein–protein interactions of cytochromes P450. I knew very little about the effects of hydrostatic pressure on proteins and their use in biophysical studies. Still, I knew Gaston’s name from his publications on the impact of pressure on P450cam [7,24]. My attention was drawn to Gaston’s presentation at the meeting. It spurred my interest in the use of pressure perturbation. I got captivated by his enthusiasm and ideas on how pressure perturbation may be used in P450 research. Soon, I joined his research group in the laboratory of Pierre Douzou in IBPC in Paris as an INSERM fellow (“poste verte”). It was a wonderful time. I enjoyed the creative atmosphere in the lab and admired Gaston’s engineering ingenuity. Besides researching pressure-induced transitions in P450 2B4 (which I brought from my lab in Moscow) [5,25], I also participated in Gaston’s engineering efforts. I designed data acquisition and analysis software for high-pressure spectroscopy, which became a core of my SpectraLab software that I still use in my research. At the end of my fellowship, we were successful in acquiring an INSERM collaborative grant followed by an INTAS multilateral research grant. This funding allowed us to continue our collaboration [9,26,27]. From 1993 to 1999, I enjoyed visiting Gaston’s lab several times a year. After my move to the US, our collaboration continued [6], and in 2002, Gaston visited me in the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB, Galveston, TX) to install his high-pressure equipment, which I still use in my research. Later, we met several times in San Diego, Paris, and other places. Owing to my collaboration with Gaston, pressure perturbation became an integral part of my research strategy, and the effects of pressure on proteins became another focus of my scientific interests. I enjoyed our collaboration and friendship a lot. Besides being a talented experimentalist and prominent scientist, he was also a wonderful person and a good friend.

PY - 2021/8

Y1 - 2021/8

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85113348818&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85113348818&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/biology10080778

DO - 10.3390/biology10080778

M3 - Editorial

C2 - 34440010

SN - 2079-7737

VL - 10

JO - Biology

JF - Biology

IS - 8

M1 - 778

ER -

A Pathfinder in High-Pressure Bioscience: In Memoriam of Gaston Hui Bon Hoa

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Online availability

Library availability

Related links

Cite this