Croatian Scientist Discovers Key for Development of Better Antibiotics

Renowned Croatian scientist Nenad Ban and his colleagues at the ETH University in Zurich have made a break-through discovery, detecting the three-dimensional structure of ribosomes in the mitochondria, which could lead to the development of new and better antibiotics…

Ban (47), who was born in Zagreb and educated at the University of Zagreb where he obtained a BS degree in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry before obtaining his PhD degree in the US, and his team’s discovery was featured on the cover of the latest edition of one of the most prestigious scientific journals – Nature – who wrote:

Nenad Ban and colleagues have solved the three-dimensional structure of the large 39S mitoribosomal subunit by cryoelectron microscopy to 4.9 Å resolution. Their images provide detailed insights into the considerable changes that have occurred in this ribosome, presumably to help facilitate translation of the very hydrophobic proteins encoded by the mitochondrial genome.

Ban, who is a professor at ETH, has also worked at Yale University and is currently Vice chair of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biophysics.