Ex-Dentist Cited For Pain Research

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. has presented its second annual Award for Distinguished Achievement in Pain Research to Ronald Dubner. Dubner, 55, is chief of the Neurobiology and Anesthesiology Branch of the National Institute, of Dental Research at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.. Dubner was the first to identify specific pain-sensing cells (nociceptors) and their connections to the central nervous system. Prior to his work, it had been believed that the nerves in the skin responded to both painful and nonpainful stimuli. Dubner also has found, in examining the effects of injury on the central nervous- system, that injury caused the skin nociceptors to become more sensitive. As a result, the nociceptors send increased impulses to the dorsal horn on the spinal cord. In response to the increase in signals, the nerve cells on the dorsal horn become larger, thus amplifying the pain signal. Dubner has participated in clinical research as well. In 1984, his group at the NIH Pain Research Clinic—the world’s only pain clinic devoted exclusively to research—showed that antidepressants, such as serotonin and norepinephrine, relieve the pain of patients with shingles (“adult -chicken pox”) and diabetic neuropathy, painful nerve damage to the extremeties caused by reduced blood supply. As a result of this research, antidepressants are now used clinically to treat these two forms of chronic pain. Dubner is currently studying the pain associated with arthritis, certain cancers, and cancer chemotherapy. Dubner received his D.D.S. degree in 1958 from Columbia University, after which—from 1959 to 1961—he worked as a dentist at NIH’s Clinical Center. In 1961, he returned-to graduate school, entering the department of physiology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He completed his work on his Ph.D. in 1964. From there, Dubner returned to NIH and has been with the Neurobiology and Anesthesiology Branch since 1973. Through the years, Dubner has received several awards in recognition of his research achievements, including the Public Health Service Meritorious Service Medal 1975, the Birnberg Research Award from Columbia University Dental School in 1981, and the Carl A. Schlack Award of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States in 1985. He has also served as either chairman or president of several professional organizations, including the International Association for the Study of Pain, the American Pain Society, and the International Association for Dental Research. Dubner received the Award for Distinguished Achievement in Pain Research at the annual meeting of the American Pain Society held in Phoenix in October. The $50,000 prize is part of a $1.75 million pain research program supported by the Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., head-quartered in New York. The pain program itself is part ofa $20 million program of unrestricted medical grants sponsored by the pharmaceutical company since 1977 (The Scientist, Oct. 30, 1989, page 23). The company presents its Awards for Distinguished Achievement in Orthopedics, Neuroscience, Cancer, and Nutrition at other times during the year. Leroy E. Hood, who is the Ethel Wilson and Robert Bowles Professor of Biology and director of the Center for the Development of an Integrated Protein and Nucleic Acid Biotech nology at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, has received the 1989 Steven C. Beering Award for Advancement of Biomedical Science. The $10,000 award, which is given annually by the Indiana School of Medicine, Indianapolis, is presented to a research scientist in recognition of his or her achievement in biomedical science. Hoed, who received a Lasker Award in 1987 for his contribution to the work that linked the immune system to inherited genes, has brought together in his lab molecular biologists, microchemists, and engineers. In the past, his team’s work with shiverer mice led to the development of the technique of genetic surgery, or the implanting of cloned genes into the nucleus of egg cells. Hood and his colleagues also have designed the prototypes for DNA sequencing and synthesizing instruments widely used by molecular biologists today. The American Microchemical Soci- ety, an international organization, presented the A.A. Benedetti-Pichler Award to K.L. Cheng, a professor of chemistry at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Cheng was selected because of the impact of his research over the years in the field of microchemistry. A graduate of Northwestern College in China (bachelor’s degree in chemistry) and the University of Illinois (master’s and doctoral degrees), Cheng pioneered the research on membrane electrodes. In addition, he introduced the reagents EDTA, PAN, and Thio-Michler’s ketone, all of which give complex reactions with certain metal ions. Cheng also developed analytical uses for photoelectron spectroscopy, and has worked with positron annihilation spectroscopy for chemical analysis. Leonard K. Kaczmarek has been named chairman of the pharmacology department at the Yale University School’ of Medicine. He succeeds John P. Perkins, who has taken an administrative position at; the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical School. Kaczmarek received his Ph.D. degree in neuroscience from the Charing Cross Hospital Medical School, the University of London, England. A professor of cellular and molecular physiology and of pharmacology, he came to Yale as an assistant profe sor in 1981. He currently is studying the role protein kinases play in regulating prolonged changes in the excitability of the brain’s neurons. The author of more than 100 articles, he is also editor of several scientific journals and books. Thomas K. Wong has joined the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) in Research Triangle Park, N.C., as as sociate director of medical studies. Wong, who received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, will oversee a program of clinical trials to determine the safety and effectiveness of pharmaceutical compounds and medical devices. Prior to coming to RTI, Wong worked as an assistant director in the medical operations group of Glaxo Inc., headquartered in London. Molecular biologist Jeremy Nathans, of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, has won the 1989 Golden Brain Award for his pioneering research on how genes govern color vision. The award is presented annually by the Minerva Foundation of Berkeley, Calif., which is dedicated to the promotion of vision and brain research. Nathans, who originally isolated the genes responsible for color vision while at Stanford University, California, is the youngest recipient of this award to date. His research has helped to explain the genetics of color blindness, and has provided insight into the workings of the central nervous system. Nathans is assistant professor in the department of molecular biology and genetics and the department of neuroscience at John Hopkins; he has been with the university since 1988. He currently is using molecular genetics to explore the mechanisms that permit humans to see color. Nathan received the Golden Brain Award on October 31 during the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Phoenix. He has also received a number of other awards and honors, including the Initiatives in Research Award of the National Academy of Sciences (1987), the Newcomb-Cleveland Prize of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (1988), and and the Distinguished Young Scientist Award of the Maryland Academy of Sciences (1989). The Association of Independent Research Institutes (AIRI) has elected its first woman president. Mary Woolley, executive director of the Medical Research Institute of San Francisco, will oversee the activities of AIRI, an organization of 76 medical research institutes not run by the government, hospitals, or universities. Woolley, who has been on the staff of the Medical Research Institute since 1972, also serves as managment and fiscal consultant to several NIH branches. AIRI receives approximately 10% of the extramural funds awarded by NIH. Darryl DesMarteau, of Clemson University, Clemson, S.C., has been named the first Tobey-Beaudrot Professor of Chemistry at the university. DesMarteau, who has served as the department head of chemistry at Clemson since 1982, was recently issued a patent for a highly selective method of fluorinating organic compounds. He currently is working on developing substitutes for chlorofluorocarbons; two years ago, he served on an Environmental Protection Agency panel of international experts formed to investigate the possibility of creating safe and viable substitutes for the ozone-destroying compound. Earlier this year, DesMarteau spent several months conducting research in West Germany as an Alexander von Humboldt Distinguished Scientist. The Tobey-Beaudrot Professorship was made possible by a gift from Clemson alumnus Paul L. Tobey and his wife, Sarah Beaudrot. Physicist Robert A. Ellis, head of the experimental projects division of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), N.J., has been elected a counselor-at-large of the American Physical Society (APS). In this position, Ellis will be involved with the governing activities of the 41,000-member organization. A native of Kansas City, Mo., Ellis received his M.S. from Yale University, New Haven, Conn., and his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa, Iowa City. Ellis, who served as head of the physics section of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna from 1979 to 1981, has worked at PPPL since 1956 and has been a member of APS for 38 years.

Ex-Dentist Cited For Pain Research

The Scientist Staff

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