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p.22 UC-Davis Professor Is Awarded Prize For Outstanding Teaching And Research $50,000 Cancer Research Prize Goes To Massachusetts Molecular Biologist People Brief Outstanding Teaching And Research Author: REBECCA ANDREWS, p.22 Barbara A. Horwitz, a physiology professor at the University of California, Davis, has been selected to receive the UC- Davis Prize for Teaching and Scholarly Achievement. The $25,000 award, which Horwitz will receive at a ceremony on May 23, was established in 1987 through a gift of an anonymous alumnus, and is administered by the nonprofit Cal Aggie Foundation. The award is given annually to a UC-Davis faculty member. According to the university, the prize is the most lucrative of any in the United States honoring both teaching and scholarly or research achievements. Horwitz has been at UC-Davis since taking a postdoctoral position there in 1966, after completing her Ph.D. at Emory University in Atlanta. She joined the faculty of the animal physiology department in 1972. "I first started out in strict research," Horwitz says, "but I got narrow really fast." She found when she began teaching that it significantly expanded the scope of her scientific knowledge. "I like it because it forces me to read in areas that I probably wouldn't be conversant in if I wasn't teaching. I'm forced to do reading that otherwise would be for my spare time--and I don't have any spare time." In addition, she says, "the interaction with the students is very enjoyable." Over the past 20 years, almost 6,000 undergraduates have taken Horwitz's cell physiology classes, known for her lucid presentations of complex subjects, often incorporating experimental evidence and ongoing research. In addition to lectures, Horwitz works closely with undergraduates in the laboratory, and encourages students to tackle research projects of their own. Horwitz's research focuses primarily on brown adipose tissue, a specialized tissue found in mammals, particularly hibernators, that is a rapid generator of heat. Brown fat contributes the initial heat needed for arousal from hibernation, says Horwitz, and is important for keeping newborn mammals, including humans, warm. For the last decade, Horwitz has been investigating connections between brown fat thermogenesis and obesity. In studies using a strain of rats with a recessive genetic mutation predisposing them to obesity, Horwitz and colleagues have found that the capacity of brown fat to produce heat--in response to either cold or caloric intake--appears blunted in these obese rats, leading to the storage of energy as regular (white) fat. In addition to her recent award, Horwitz received a citation in 1982 for distinguished teaching given annually by faculty peers at UC-Davis. Edward E. Harlow, director of the molecular oncology laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center in Charlestown, has received the 14th annual Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Cancer Research. Harlow was given the award and a cash prize of $50,000 at a ceremony in New York on April 10. The prize recognizes Harlow for his 1988 discovery that two genes previously thought to work independently--a tumor virus gene and the tumor-suppressing retinoblastoma gene--team up to convert normal cells to cancer cells (Nature, 334:124-9, 1988; "Hot Papers," The Scientist, June 26, 1989, page 15). Harlow was working at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island, N.Y., when his lab discovered that the protein of the adenovirus E1A oncogene binds to the protein of the retinoblastoma gene, forming a protein-protein complex. The retinoblastoma gene, which Harlow likens to the brakes of a car, is a tumor suppressor gene normally found in all human cells. Its deletion or mutation can lead to unchecked cell proliferation--tumor growth. When the E1A protein binds to the retinoblastoma protein, says Harlow, it deactivates it, allowing the cell, like a car rolling downhill with faulty brakes, to proliferate out of control. Subsequent research by Harlow's lab and others has shown that the E1A-retinoblastoma complex serves as a model for other protein interactions in the cell. Proteins of polyomavirus, simian virus 40, and the papillomavirus--the last known to be associated with human cervical cancer--have all been shown to bind with and inactivate the retinoblastoma protein. The protein of another tumor suppressor gene, p53, has also been found to be a target for oncoviral proteins. According to the award citation, Harlow's discovery "suggested a new and simplified explanation for how certain cancers can begin in a cell." However, says Harlow, this apparent simplicity belies the subject's actual complexity. "It looks so simple, but really it's not," he insists. "It's that illusion that this award is based on." He is looking forward to working on several research questions that have arisen in the wake of his recent work: elucidating the cellular functions and mechanisms of the retinoblastoma protein; finding other host-cell proteins that interact with E1A; and determining the mechanisms that regulate these proteins. Harlow, 39, earned his Ph.D. in 1982 from Kings College, University of London. He joined Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in 1982, and joined Massachusetts General last October. Gertrude B. Elion, Nobel laureate and scientist emeritus at Burroughs Wellcome Co. of Research Triangle Park, N.C., has become the first woman elected to the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio. The institution, founded in 1973, is dedicated to individuals who have developed technological advances fostered by the United States patent system. Elion will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, along with seven other inventors, at a May 17 ceremony. The honor recognizes her contributions to the development of new cancer and antiviral drugs. She shared her Nobel Prize in 1988 with George Hitchings, also of Burroughs Wellcome, her collaborator of 40 years. Elion received her B.A. from Hunter College in 1937 and an M.S. in chemistry from Hunter in 1941. She joined the Wellcome Research Laboratories in 1944 as a biochemist. She was later promoted to senior research chemist and assistant to the research director. In 1967, she was appointed head of the department of experimental therapy, a position she held until her retirement in 1983. The other new inductees to the Hall of Fame are: Elmer A. Sperry, honored posthumously for inventing the gyrocompass, the first practical application of gyroscopic control to shipping and aviation; Gordon Gould, whose ideas led to the creation of the first laser and who holds the patent for the optically pumped laser amplifier; Leonard M. Greene, who patented the stall warning indicator, now a standard safety device on aircraft; W.E. Hanford, who holds the patent for polyurethane along with Donald F. Holmes; Robert R. Williams, honored posthumously for discovering vitamin B1; and Willard H. Bennett, honored posthumously for inventing the radio frequency mass spectrometer.

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