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Dr. Anuj Kumar from the labs of Prof. Jan Schuller and Prof. Volker Müller received the doctoral prize of the German Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (GBM e.V.) for his outstanding dissertation on the "Structural basis of CO2 fixation and energy conservation in acetogens". The GBM doctoral prize recognizes an outstanding doctoral dissertation in biochemistry and/or molecular biology and is endowed with €1,500. Dr. Kumar received the award on March 26 as part of the 77th Mosbach Colloquium of the GBM and presented his work in a short lecture.
During his doctoral research, Dr. Anuj Kumar applied redox-controlled cryo-electron microscopy single-particle analysis (Cryo-EM SPA) to uncover high-resolution structures of key bioenergetic machineries in acetogenic bacteria. These ancient microorganisms thrive in oxygen-free environments and play a critical role in global carbon cycling by converting carbon dioxide (CO₂) into cellular building blocks through the Wood–Ljungdahl pathway — one of the oldest known metabolic pathways on Earth. However, autotrophy on hydrogen (H₂) and CO₂ results in the formation of only 0.3 moles of ATP per mole of acetate, marking the thermodynamic limit of life. To survive under such extreme energy limitation, acetogens rely on complex, multi-subunit bioenergetic machines for linking CO2 fixation with energy conservation. These oxygen-sensitive metalloprotein complexes are remarkably efficient and catalyse energetically expensive reactions with high specificity. Despite their central importance in microbial metabolism and bioenergetics, their structural and mechanistic principles have remained largely unknown. Using redox-controlled Cryo-EM, Dr. Kumar successfully resolved high-resolution structures of these complexes and captured them in multiple catalytic turnover states. This enabled him to reconstruct their functional cycles and provide insight into how these enzymes function. His findings reveal that key molecular principles of super-complex assembly, modularity, and redox-driven conformational changes are broadly conserved across anaerobic organisms. In addition, his work also describes how these enzymes catalyse chemically demanding reactions under severe energetic constraints. Together, these strategies ultimately allow these microbes to conserve energy and overcome thermodynamic barriers, offering new understanding of how life adapts to some of the most energy-limited environments on Earth.
Anuj Kumar completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Physics at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Mohali, India. During his Master’s thesis, he also worked at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) in Hamburg, where he developed a strong interest in electron microscopy and structural biology. He subsequently worked as a Research Assistant at the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science at Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, Hamburg and later at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at Delft University of Technology, Delft. He completed his PhD at Philipps-Universität Marburg under the supervision of Prof. Jan Schuller and Prof. Volker Müller.
Katharina Hieke-Kubatzky (GBM)
Dr. Anuj Kumar
Copyright: A. Kumar
Award Ceremony at the 77. Mosbacher Kolloquium
Copyright: K. Kubatzky
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