3 April 2014

The alternative proteins discovered by a team from the Université de Sherbrooke and the Centre de recherche du CHUS (CHUS research centre) have just been crowned Discovery of the Year by Québec Science, following a public vote.

Professor Xavier Roucou, Benoît Vanderperre, Julie Motard, Cyntia Bissonnette, Danny Bergeron, and Guillaume Tremblay. Missing: Catherine Lapointe and Solène Vanderperre

Among the top 10 Discoveries of the Year, the major breakthrough of Xavier Roucou’s team was qualified as “a major and audacious discovery that revolutionizes the research community.”

“This award is very important to me, as it is the result of the support of the scientific community and science enthusiasts, which are both in favour of our project,” said Xavier Roucou, also a researcher at the CHUS Research Center.

Note that the work carried out by Professor Roucou and his team led to the discovery of a new type of protein: alternative proteins. The founding principles of cellular biology, according to which each gene corresponds to one protein, were shaken by this discovery. The data gathered by Sherbrooke’s team indicate that each mature mRNA codes on average 3.8 proteins.

The discovery made in 2013 is opening new areas of investigation for certain neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

The student members of Xavier Roucou’s team who worked on the discovery of alternative proteins are Benoît Vanderperre, Danny Bergeron, Cyntia Bissonnette, Catherine Lapointe, and Solène Vanderperre. Research professionals Guillaume Tremblay and Julie Motard also took part in the research.

Sources: Université de Sherbrooke and CHUS Research Centre
Photo credit: Robert Dumont

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