Six Receive Lasker Foundation Medical Research Awards

The 1989 Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation Medical Research Awards, given to six scientists for their achievements in the medical sciences and public health administration, were announced last week. The awards, first presented in 1944, are divided into three categories: public service, clinical medical research, and basic medical research. A $15,000 prize is given in each Category. Lewis Thomas, 75, scholar-in-residence at Cornell University Medical College, Ithaca, N.Y., received the 1989 Albert Lasker Public Service Award for his writings, which have heightened and transformed the public’s perception of biomedical science. Thomas, who has published more than 200 scientific papers on virology, immunology, experimental pathology, and infectious diseases, has received more than 20 honorary degrees in science, law, letters, and music. He is also the author of The Lives of a Cell, for which he won a National Book Award, and The Medusa and the Snail, for which he received the American Book Award and the Christopher Award. The 1989 Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award was given to Etienne-Emile Baulieu, 62, professor of biochemistry at the University of Paris School of Medicine, Paris-Sud, France. Baulieu was honored for his contributions to the field of steroid hormone biosynthesis in general and for his work on the anti-progesterone steroid analog RU 486, which has been used to treat progesterone-dependent tumors and endo- metriosis (such as ovarian cysts). The four other honorees were selected to receive the 1989 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award. The recipients, who will share the $15,000 prize. are Edwin G. Krebs, 71; Michael J. Berridge, 50; Yasutomi Nishizuka, 57; and Alfred G. Gilman, 48. Krebs, who is a senior investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and professor emeritus in the departments of pharmacology and biochemistry at the University of Washington, Seattle, is best known for his work on protein phosphorylation. In 1962, Krebs speculated that different proteins responsible for various cellular processes might be activated by the addition of phosphate. Since then, phosphorylation has been found to be central to the action of hormones, growth factors, and neurotransmitter molecules, thus mediating cell growth, secretion, contraction, differentiation, and the biochemical mechanisms of many carcinogens. Berridge, a fellow at Trinity College in Cambridge, U.K., was honored by the Lasker Foundation for his discovery of inositol triphosphate (1P3), a lipid breakdown product that alters the intracellular level of calcium. The discovery of IP3 is crucial to the understanding of how the liver releases energy and how glands receive instructions to secrete specific products; it also sheds light on the process of fertilization, as well as the growth and proliferation of cells. Nishizuka, professor and chairman of the department of chemistry at Kobe (Japan) University School of Medicine, discovered protein kinase C, which is regulated by calcium and a certain lipid in the cell membrane. Nishizuka and his associates also determined that carcinogens can activate protein kinase C, leading to cancer cell growth. Gilman discovered that G-proteins carry signals that regulate vital processes within cells, such as information processing in brain cells. Gilman, Willie Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, also developed the first widely used assay for cyclic AMP, the energy source for cellular processes. David L. Correll has been appointed director of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Md. Correll, who had been acting director, began his career at the Smithsonian in 1962 as a biochemist at the Radiation Biology Laboratory, which merged with the Chesapeake Bay Center for Environmental Studies in 1983 to form the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. In addition to his administrative duties, Correll will continue his research on the nutrient dynamics within and among a series of habitats found along the Rhode River System, a subestuary of the Chesapeake Bay; the penetration of sunlight into turbid coastal waters; the interactions of atmospheric ozone with solar ultraviolet light penetration to the earth’s surface; and the impact of acid rain at the Edgewater site on both upland forests and freshwater receiving systems. His research on acid rain concentrates on the displacement of alkaline cation nutrients, direct acid effects, and the dissolving of aluminum silicates from soil minerals. Correll is also concerned with the overall biogeochemistry of various parts of the watershed environment, particularly the toxicity of various combinations of acid rain, aluminum, and other chemicals. The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, which occupies 2,600 acres of natural habitats along the Rhode River, is used for research on air-land-water relationships and to create public awareness and understanding of ecological systems as they might be affected by human disturbance. Ethan R. Nadel, a fellow of the John B. Pierce Foundation Laboratory in New Haven, Conn., has been named director of the laboratory for a five-year term, which began September 1. Nadel, who is also a professor in the department of public health and cellular and molecular physiology at the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, succeeds Arthur B. DuBois, who served as director from 1974 to 1988. DuBois has resumed full-time research and teaching. Nadel, who is known for his work on the physiological control of energy transfer in humans, is studying blood pressure regulation and the control of body water balance, particularly the factors that influence recovery from dehydration. The John B. Pierce Foundation Laboratory was established in 1933 to study the effects of heating, sanitation, and ventilation on human health and well-being. Today, the laboratory researches the effects of the physical, chemical, and biological aspects, of the environment on human regulatory systems, from the cellular to the whole body level. John Coates and Stan Spurlin, both of the Midwest Research Institute (MRI) in Kansas City, have recently been promoted at MRI. Coates, who joined MRI in 1985, has been promoted to director of the environmental chemistry department. While at MRI, Coates has specialized in developing new analytical methods for determining the presence of dioxins, polychlorinated bi phenyls, and other hazardous compounds in domestic and industrial waste. He also has developed models to predict-the fate and transport of such compounds in the ecological chain. Spurlin, who joined MRI in 1987, has been promoted to head of special programs in analytical chemistry. Spurlin has specialized in developing methods for trace analysis in physiological, biological, and environmental substances. He has also worked on ceramic fibers, a vapor-monitoring system based on immu nological techniques, and the determination of environmentally significant compounds in human adipose tissue. After a two-year search, the University of Texas System Board of Regents has appointed M. David Low as president of the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. Low, formerly the chief executive of the health sciences component of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, succeeds Roger J. Bulger, who resigned in September 1987 to become president of the Association of Academic Health Centers in Washington, D.C. Low’s current research focuses on the visual system in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and on electrical brain mapping-as applied to disorders such as epilupsy, schizophrenia, depression, and the consequences of head injuries. Earth Observation Satellite Co. (EOSAT) of Lanham, Md., has announced the appointment of David Fischel as chief scientist. A former research scientist at the National. Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Goddard Space flight Center, and, more recently, senior sytems engineer at EOSAT, Fischel has worked as part of the Landsat integration team, with primary responsibility for image generation systems. In addition to image processing, he has also conducted research in physics of stellar atmospheres, thermodynamics of neutral plasmas, and resampling theory. Morton A. Vodian has joined T Cell Sciences Inc., a pharmaceutical product company in Cambridge, Mass., as director of diagnostic research and development. Vodian, who formerly served as vice president of research and development at the San Diego-based Synbiotics Corp., will be responsible for all aspects of research and development of diagnostic and therapeutic products for the detection, monitoring, and treatment of heart disease, autoimmune diseases, and certain cancers. Richard M. Jones has been appointed to the newly created position of senior liaison, government and institutional relations, at the American Institute of Physics (AlP), New York. The ALP created the new position to provide its member societies with a centralized source for information about science policy, key science and science education legislation, and science funding trends. Jones will be responsible for strengthening the relationships between AlP’s member societies and legislators and agency officials. Prior to joining AlP, Jones worked for five years as a congressional legislative assistant. Jonathan P. Deason has been appointed director of the Department of the Interior’s Office of Environmental Project Review. Deason, who will oversee nine regional offices and a Washington, D.C., staff of environmental specialists, will be responsible for ensuring that Department of the Interior projects and activities comply with a wide range of environmental laws. Prior to his appointment, Deason served as manager of the National Irrigation WaterQuality Program in the department. As manager, he directed a team of 200 multidisciplinary specialists engaged in identifying, evaluating, and responding to irrigation-induced contamination problems across the Western United States. Deason, who holds a Ph.D. in water resources systems from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, was also recently elected vice president of the American Society of Civil Engineers. In addition, he has been elected to the board of directors of the American Water Resources Association, representing the MidAtlantic states. He is also a member of several other scientific and professional organizations. James Spensley has been elected chairman for fiscal year 1989-90 of the Colorado Advanced Technology Institute (CATI) in Denver. Spensley is president of Spensley & Associates Ltd. and IBD of Colorado Inc., two project management and environment consulting firms. He has consulted and lectured in the fields of science, technology, and public policy for almost 20 years. Spensley, who lectures at the University of Denver on technology assessment, will continue CATI’s policy of developing and promoting coordinated research efforts among and between the universities and the business community in Colorado. Richard 0. Hynes has been named head of the department of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., effective July 1. He succeeds Maurice S. Fox, who served as head of the department since 1985, and who will return to teaching and research. Hynes, who has been a faculty member at MIT since 1975, received both his B.A. (1966) and his M.A. (1970) degrees from Cambridge University, U.K., and his Ph.D. (1970) from MIT. In 1988, he was named a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator. Hynes is best known for his research on the molecular basis of cell adhesion, which plays roles in cell behavior during embryological development and in certain physiological processes, such as hemostasis, wound healing, and cancer. Michael L. Knotek, Steven D. Colson, and Thomas Harold Dunning, Jr., have been named to direct the newly established Molecular Science Research Center (MSRC) at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest Laboratory in Richland, Wash. Knotek, who is chairman of the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y., has been named manager and senior science director. Colson, a professor of chemistry at Yale University, New Haven, Conn., has been named associate director of chemical kinetics and dynamics. Dunning, of the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago, has been appointed associate director of molecular theory and modeling. When completed, MSRC will be the only center dedicated to molecular science research in the U.S. Research at MSRC will focus on how molecules combine to form structures, such as proteins, polymers, and catalysts—topics that are applicable to problems in the areas of environment, energy, new materials, and health.

Six Receive Lasker Foundation Medical Research Awards

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October 1989

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