Prof. Tewfik Soulimane

Biography

Prof. Tewfik Soulimane received his B.Sc. (Dip.-Ing.) in Chemical Engineering (1985), M.Sc. (Dipl.-Chem.) in Chemistry (1988) and Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) degrees (1993) from the Technical University RWTH-Aachen, Germany. In close collaboration with the Max-Planck Institute for Biochemistry, Martinsried, he received the Habilitation award from the RWTH-Aachen in 2000. In 2001, Prof. Soulimane joined the Swiss Light Source, Villigen, Switzerland, as group leader before moving to a faculty position at the University of Limerick in 2005.

Prof. Soulimane currently serves as Chair for Molecular Structural Biology, Head of Department of Chemical Sciences, Head of School of Natural Sciences, and managing director of the MOSAIC research group within the University. During his Tenure at the University, he directed the Industrial Biochemistry course for a decade, led the Health theme of the MSSI and established the highly successful Biomaterials Cluster at the Bernal Institute.

Prof. Soulimane's research activities have focused upon understanding the structure/function relationship of selected eukaryotic and prokaryotic membrane proteins making major contributions to the field of Bioenergetics. The unravelling of the crystal structures of the thermophilic cytochrome c oxidases ba3 and caa3 are recognised as monumental findings in Science. Prof. Soulimane has earned research awards from the Materials and Surface Science Institute, and from the president of the University of Limerick for his scientific contributions. His research group encapsulates a broad range of multidisciplinary collaboration and contributes expertise in the areas of biochemistry, micro- and cell biology.

Selected Key Publications

1. Guerin, S., Stapleton, A., Chovan, D et al. (2018) Control of piezoelectricity in amino acids by supramolecular packing. Nature Materials 17, 180-185.
2. A. Lyons, D. Aragão, O. Slattery, T. Soulimane* and M. Caffrey* (2012) Structural insights into electron transfer in caa3‐type cytochrome oxidase. Nature 487, 514‐518.
3. Szundi, C. Funatogawa, T. Soulimane, Ó. Einarsdóttir (2010) Ultra‐fast Early Steps in the Reduction of Dioxygen to Water by Cytochrome ba3 Oxidase from Thermus thermophilus: Time‐Resolved Optical Absorption Study using a Dioxygen Carrier. PNAS 107, 21010‐5.
4. Soulimane, G. Buse, G. P. Bourenkov, H. D. Bartunik, R. Huber and M.E. Than (2000) Structure and Mechanism of the ba3‐Cytochrome c Oxidase from Thermus thermophilus. EMBO J. 19, 1766‐1776.
5. Giuffre, G. Stubauer, P. Sarti, M. Brunori, W. Zumft, G. Buse and Soulimane (1999) NO Kinetic properties of the ba3‐oxidase from Thermus thermophilus. PNAS 96, 14718‐14723.

Selected Review Articles

1. Koutsoupakis C, Soulimane T, Varotsis C (2019) Discrete Ligand Binding and Electron Transfer Properties of ba3-Cytochrome c Oxidase from Thermus thermophilus: Evolutionary Adaption to Low Oxygen and High Temperature Environments. Acc. Chem. Res. 52(5) 1380-1390.
2. El Aranout T. and Soulimane T. (2019) Targeting lipoprotein biogenesis: considerations towards antimicrobials. Trends in Biochemical Sciences, 44(8) 701-715.
3. Kolaj-Robin O, Russell D, Hayes KA, Pembroke JT, Soulimane T. (2015) Cation Diffusion Facilitator family: Structure and function. FEBS Lett. (15)245-248. (Cover illustration).
4. R.M Noor & T. Soulimane (2011) Bioenergetics at extreme temperature: ba3‐ and caa3‐type cytochrome c oxidases Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1817, 672‐679.
5. E. Than and T. Soulimane (2002) ba3‐cytochrome c oxidase from Thermus thermophilus Handbook of Metalloproteins. Edited by A. Messerschmidt, R. Huber, T. Poulous and K. Wieghardt. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, 363 – 378.