Winner of the competition “What is your favourite molecule” at the Sweprot meeting in June 2026 is Dr. Dinesh Dhurvas Chandrasekaran, Post-Doc Fellow at Umeå University, Sweden with the molecule Auxin, Indole-3-acetic acid.
“As a structural biologist, I am particularly fascinated by how a small molecule can initiate a cascade of complex events and ultimately contribute to the transformation of a tiny seed into a thriving ecosystem that sustains life on Earth”.
Read the whole text here:
During my PhD research, I studied Aux/IAA protein, a transcription repressor that regulates auxin signaling, and developed a strong appreciation of the influence of this elegant molecule ’auxin’ on plant development. Auxin functions as a molecular glue, facilitating the interaction between Aux/IAA proteins and the auxin receptor, which leads to its degradation. As a structural biologist, I am particularly fascinated by how a small molecule can initiate a cascade of complex events and ultimately contribute to the transformation of a tiny seed into a thriving ecosystem that sustains life on Earth.
Related references:
Dinesh et al., Trends in Plant Science, 2016.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2015.10.019
Dinesh et al., PNAS, 2015.