Alice Vrielink is a

structural biologist Structural biology is a field that is many centuries old which, and as defined by the Journal of Structural Biology, deals with structural analysis of living material (formed, composed of, and/or maintained and refined by living cells) at every le ...

and Professor of Structural Biology in the School of Molecular Sciences at the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

. She is known for her work determining the structures of macromolecules such as enzymes and nucleic acids.

Education

Vrielink earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Masters of Science in Physical Chemistry at the University of Calgary in Canada. For her master's research she worked on ligands of

angiotensin Angiotensin is a peptide hormone that causes vasoconstriction and an increase in blood pressure. It is part of the renin–angiotensin system, which regulates blood pressure. Angiotensin also stimulates the release of aldosterone from the adr ...

, a hormone involved in regulating blood pressure. She received a PhD in 1989 from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degre ...

where she worked on the structure of

cholesterol oxidase In enzymology, a cholesterol oxidase () is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction :cholesterol + O2 \rightleftharpoons cholest-4-en-3-one + H2O2 Thus, the two substrates of this enzyme are cholesterol and O2, whereas its two products ...

. She also has a Diploma in Crystallography from the Imperial College of Science and Technology.

Career

Vrielink was an Assistant and Associate Professor at McGill University in Canada from 1994 to 2001. From 2000 until 2007 she served as a Research Professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz and then joined the faculty at University of Western Australia as Professor of Structural Biology in 2007. Vrielink was a member of the 2014 National Committee on Crystallography She is a past president of the Society of Crystallographers of Australia and New Zealand (SCANZ).

Research

Vrielink conducts research in protein biochemistry and

crystallography Crystallography is the experimental science of determining the arrangement of atoms in crystalline solids. Crystallography is a fundamental subject in the fields of materials science and solid-state physics (condensed matter physics). The wo ...

with a special focus on understanding the structural determinants governing enzyme chemistry. Vrielink's early research centered on the three-dimensional structure of the enzyme cholesterol oxidase first in

Brevibacterium ''Brevibacterium'' is a genus of bacteria of the order Micrococcales. They are Gram-positive soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together ...

and then in

Streptomyces ''Streptomyces'' is the largest genus of Actinomycetota and the type genus of the family Streptomycetaceae. Over 500 species of ''Streptomyces'' bacteria have been described. As with the other Actinomycetota, streptomycetes are gram-positive, ...

. She has been involved in projects that have established the structure of compounds including

L-amino-acid oxidase In enzymology, an L-amino acid oxidase (LAAO) () is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction :an L-amino acid + H2O + O2 \rightleftharpoons a 2-oxo acid + NH3 + H2O2 The enzyme was first described in 1944 by A. Zeller and A. Maritz. Not on ...

, prions, and snake venom. In 2017, she mapped the molecular structure of EptA, a protein that shields superbugs from antibiotics. This work has been covered by the BBC, ABC, Times Higher Education, The West Australian, and Particle. Subsequent work on EptA has revealed why it may be a good target for drug development.

Selected publications

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References

External links

Faculty page

Lab group page

Vrielink's obituary for David Blow, her Ph.D. advisor
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vrielink, Alice Australian biochemists Australian women chemists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Academic staff of the University of Western Australia Canadian emigrants to Australia University of Calgary alumni Canadian crystallographers Alumni of the University of London