People: Two Biochemists Share Columbia's 1989 Horwitz Prize

Columbia University's Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize for 1989 has been awarded to Edwin G. Krebs and Alfred G. Gilman, two biochemists whose lifelong research has traced and explained the intricate communication network that regulates critical processes in living cells. The prize, given by a committee of Columbia medical and science professors, is one of the awards that observers cite as a forerunner to the winning of the Nobel Prize. Twenty-three of the award's winners have gone on to become Nobel laureates. Krebs, 71, is a senior investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and professor of pharmacology at the University of Washington. Gilman is chairman of the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. The two scientists will share the $22,000 award, given annually for outstanding research in biology or biochemistry. Krebs was cited for his work on protein phosphorylation, a process that activates or deactivates enzymes critical to the regulation of nearly every vital biological function. Krebs was one of the first scientists to describe protein kinases. In 1968, he discovered cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinases (Journal of Biological Chemistry, 243:3763-74, 1968), an area of research he says is "becoming more prominent now." Krebs is amused that research he initially began nearly 40 years ago is now being singled out for accolades. "I'm delighted that it is recognized. And I'm also surprised by the attention." As for future projects, Krebs says he will further his research "in the signal transduction area and the protein kinase area." Meanwhile, Gilman, 48, was honored for his studies of transduction and his discovery of G-proteins, which act as intermediaries to relay signals from outside the cells to the inside. A number of kinds of G-proteins subsequently have been discovered, each specific for a particular receptor molecule and for a particular type of cell. Gilman calls winning the prize "a real honor and pleasure, particularly because I'm sharing it with Dr. Krebs. We work on the opposite ends of the same pathway." This pathway connection takes place when, after hormone or neurotransmitter binding to a receptor site, guanosine triphosphate (GTP) binds to a G-protein and, in turn, activates or inhibits an effector. This then either stimulates or inhibits further biochemical reactions, including those discovered by Krebs. "He was a hero of mine when I was a student," Gilman says. Gilman adds that he plans to "continue work with G-proteins." The paths of the two biologists have crossed before when it comes to receiving awards. They also shared the 1989 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, along with Michael J. Berridge and Yasutomi Nishizuka. In addition, Krebs and Gilman were among those researchers The Scientist cited as contenders for the 1989 Nobel Prize in Medicine (Oct. 2, 1989, page 14), and both are among those singled out by the Philadelphia-based Institute for Scientific Information as the top 1,000 most-cited scientists for 1965-78. Krebs received an A.B. in chemistry from the University of Illinois in 1940 and an M.D. from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in 1943. He completed his internship in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis and was a research fellow in biological chemistry at Washington from 1946 to 1948; he then joined the University of Washington at Seattle as assistant professor of biochemistry. In 1966, he became assistant dean for planning in the University of Washington School of Medicine. From there he went to the University of California, Davis, in 1968, where he became professor and chairman of biological chemistry at the UC-Davis School of Medicine. He rejoined the University of Washington in 1976. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Krebs also has won the Gairdner Award in 1978, the George W. Thorn Award for Scientific Excellence in 1983, the Research Achievement Award from the American Heart Association in 1987, the Passano Foundation Award in 1988, and the 3M Life Sciences Award in 1989. While Krebs says he's honored to receive awards like the Horwitz Prize, he does have one objection. "They don't really reflect the contributions of co-workers. They are often extremely important." Gilman received a B.S., summa cum laude, from Yale University in 1962, and an M.D. and Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in 1969. From 1969 to 1971, he was a research associate at the National Institutes of Health; he later was appointed assistant professor in the department of pharmacology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. In 1981, he joined the department of pharmacology at the University of Texas Health Science Center's Southwestern Medical School at Dallas. Gilman also has won the Gairdner Foundation International Award in 1982, and the Richard Lounsbery Award of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 1987. The Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize was established in 1967 in memory of the late philanthropist S. Gross Horwitz' mother, to honor outstanding contributions to knowledge in biology or biochemistry. The first prize, in 1967, went to Argentine biochemist Luis F. Leloir, who received the Nobel Prize in chemistry three years later.

People: Two Biochemists Share Columbia's 1989 Horwitz Prize

The Scientist Staff

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