Skip to main content Deutsch

Edin Muratspahić receives Hans-Horst Meyer Prize from Austrian Pharmacological Society

All News
Copyright: Emina Muratspahić
(from left:) Thomas Griesbacher (Chairman of the Austrian Pharmacological Society), Edin Muratspahić, Johannes Pleiner-Duxneuner (Medical Director, Roche, Austria)

(Vienna, 26 September 2022) Edin Muratspahić, formerly a PhD student at MedUni Vienna's Institute of Pharmacology, has been awarded the Hans-Horst Meyer Prize 2021 by the Austrian Pharmacological Society. His award-winning paper, chosen by the jury, focused on the development of a potential new analgesic based on a naturally occurring molecule in sunflowers.

He performed his study in Christian Gruber's research group at MedUni Vienna's Institute of Pharmacology.

The Austrian Pharmacological Society (APHAR) awards the Hans-Horst Meyer Prize annually in recognition of special achievements by young scientists working in experimental pharmacological and toxicological research, as well as clinical pharmacological basic research, with a view to promoting their ongoing development. Due to Covid, the award was not given in 2021 and is now being presented this year for scientific papers dating from 2021.

About Edin Muratspahić
Edin Muratspahić was born in Bugojno (Bosnia and Herzegovina). He completed his bachelor's degree in chemistry at the University of Vienna in 2014 and his master's degree in biological chemistry in 2017, graduating with honours. Between 2017 and 2021, he conducted research as a PhD student at the Institute of Pharmacology, Medical University of Vienna, under the supervision of Christian W. Gruber. Muratspahić's doctoral thesis focused on the discovery and design of cyclic, naturally occurring peptides and their pharmacological characterisation as ligands of the κ-opioid receptorWithin the framework of his PhD studies, he received a prestigious Marietta Blau scholarship from the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF), which enabled him pursue his research as a visiting scientist at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience of the University of Queensland (Australia). After completing his PhD, Edin Muratspahić continued his scientific career as a postdoc in Hosseinzadeh's research group at the Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact at the University of Oregon, USA, where he is currently working on de novo peptide and protein design.

Edin Muratspahić will spend the next two years at the Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington, in the research group of the world-renownedbiochemist David Baker as part of a Schrödinger Fellowship (awarded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF). Edin Muratspahić's research work will focus on the computer-based design of allosteric peptide modulators of G protein-coupled receptors, which is a highly topical area of research.

Publication: Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
Design of a stable cyclic peptide analgesic derived from sunflower seeds that targets the k-opioid receptor for the treatment of chronic abdominal pain.
 Edin Muratspahić, Nataša Tomašević, Johannes Koehbach, Leopold Duerrauer, Seid Hadžić, Joel Castro, Gudrun Schober, Spyridon Sideromenos, Richard J. Clark, Stuart M. Brierley, David J. Craik, Christian W. Gruber.
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c00158