People: Russian Scientist Takes Sabbatical With U.S. Biotech

Russian Scientist Takes A Sabbatical With U.S. Biotech Two Researchers From France, Australia Receive U.S. Nobel "Predictor" Award Obituary - Bernard D. Davis Vladimir A. Efimov, head of the Laboratory of Gene Engineering at the Shemyakin Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Moscow, is spending a year's sabbatical as a visiting scientist at Triplex Pharmaceutical Corp. in The Woodlands, Texas. The four-year-old biotechnology company is working on producing novel drugs to inhibit the onset of certain viral disease and cancers. Its approach is based on using oligonucleotides--short sequences of DNA building blocks-- that form triple helical complexes with specific regions of DNA, thereby preventing the genes from expressing themselves. Efimov was invited to help in designing the specific oligonucleotides. "This approach is very promising for the future of pharmaceuticals," says Efimov, whose expertise is in nucleic acid chemistry and recombinant DNA technology. "We are trying to produce oligonucleotides that can bind tightly and specifically to the regulatory regions of genes causing viral diseases or oncogenes." "Dr. Efimov will lend his expertise to the chemical modification program, to improve the DNA-binding capabilities of the oligos, and to ensure their uptake by cells," says Krishna Jayaraman, head of the oligonucleotide chemistry group at Triplex. "We have to be able to reduce the quantity [of oligonucleotide] needed 100 times in order for it to be used as a drug," says Efimov. "My approach involves modifying the structure of the backbone so as to improve binding and uptake." Efimov received his Ph.D. in bioorganic chemistry from the Shemyakin Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Moscow, in 1974, and, in 1989, a doctor of sciences (Sc.D.) degree from the same institute. He has been associated with the Shemyakin Institute since 1971, first as a student and later as a researcher and teacher. He has received numerous awards in his home country, including the Order of Honour for Scientific Achievements, and the USSR Medal for Outstanding Achievements in Labor; in addition, he holds three patents. Although he has visited the U.S. before, this is his first extended stay; previously, he came for symposia and meetings. "I hope to organize a bridge between the U.S. lab and my lab in Moscow," he says. Nicole Le Duarin, a developmental biologist and a professor at the College de France, Nogent-sur-Marne, and Donald Metcalf, a research professor of cancer biology at the University of Melbourne in Australia, were the recipients of Columbia University's 1993 Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, presented in December. The two scientists shared the $22,000 prize, which has been awarded annually since 1967 for outstanding research in biology or biochemistry. Both Le Douarin and Metcalf were cited for their discoveries of how different types of cells in the body develop from a single type of precursor cell. Their work established that, in addition to the genes that code for various functions, environmental influences play an important role in determining cellular fate. The primary focus of Le Douarin's research has been the development of nerve cells in the embryo. She tracked the migratory routes of the precursor cells in the embryo to discover the precise point at which they begin to change. She discovered two growth hormones that determine whether these precursor cells become neural cells or cartilage or pigment cells. Le Douarin, 63, obtained her doctoral degree from the University de Paris. She taught high school from 1954 to 1960 and worked at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) from 1960 to 1965, as well as at the University de Clermont-Ferrand and the University de Nantes from 1965 to 1975. In 1975 she became the director of the Institut d'Embryologie at CNRS, a position she still holds. Metcalf's major contributions have been in studying the development of blood cells, and applying this knowledge to cancer therapy. He identified, purified, and found the genes for various factors that control the development of blood cells. Most recently, he isolated a new factor, called the leukemia inhibitory factor, that has powerful effects in precursor cells and adult liver and bone-forming tissues. Metcalf, 64, received a Ph.D. from the University of Sydney in Australia in 1953. Since 1954 he has been associated with the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research at Melbourne, where he is currently a research professor of cancer biology and head of the institute's cancer research unit. Last year, he received the Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award (B. Spector, The Scientist, Oct. 18, 1993, page 1). More than half of the Horwitz prize winners--28 out of 51-- have gone on to receive the Nobel Prize. Bernard D. Davis, a professor at Harvard Medical School since 1957 and a pioneer in microbial genetics research, died of prostate cancer at his home in Belmont, Mass., on January 14. He was 78 years old. Davis, who had been Adele Lehmann Professor of Bacterial Physiology at Harvard and director of the Bacterial Physiology Unit there, did ground-breaking work on the regulation of genes in bacteria, membrane transport systems, and the action of antibiotics. He established a technique to isolate mutant bacteria using penicillin. Davis also was widely known for his writings on social issues in science, such as the uses of recombinant DNA, the dangers of genetic engineering, and the Human Genome Project (The Scientist, Oct. 29, 1990, page 13). In 1976 he was at the center of a heated controversy over the publication of his opinions on affirmative action and medical school admissions. At the time of his death he was working on a book about another public controversy: that surrounding Nobel laureate David Baltimore. Baltimore had coauthored and then later defended a paper published in the journal Cell (45:247, April 1986) against claims of fraud and faked data. Davis had come out strongly in defense of Baltimore. Davis received an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1940.

People: Russian Scientist Takes Sabbatical With U.S. Biotech

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of