Posts in category: Medicine

Konrad Beyreuther graduated with a B.Sc. from Ludwigs-Maximilian University of Munich and a Ph.D. in Protein Chemistry from the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Munich. He completed his post-doctoral training in protein chemistry, molecular biology, and genetics at the Institute for Genetics in Cologne University (Germany), the Biological Laboratories at Harvard University (USA), and the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Biology at Cambridge University (U.K.). He obtained his Habilitation in Genetics from Cologne University and became a Professor in the Department of Biochemical Genetics at the Institute of Genetics at Cologne, before moving, in 1987, to the University of Heidelberg as a Professor of Molecular Biology and the Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Neuropathology.

Professor Beyreuther, jointly with Colin Masters, made significant advances in the molecular biology and chemistry of amyloid plaques that characterize the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). They determined the amino acid sequence of a major protein constituent of amyloid plaques and established model systems for in vitro and in vivo studies of amyloid formation in AD. These studies opened new avenues of research into the molecular biology, genetics and pathogenesis of AD that could lead to the development of novel ways to prevent its occurrence or slow down its progression. He also conducted detailed studies of synaptic dysfunction in AD. Earlier in his career, he succeeded, in collaboration with British scientists, in identifying the scrapie-associated protein in the brains of experimentally infected animals.

Professor Beyreuther published numerous scientific papers in international journals. His outstanding contributions to the study of neurodegenerative disorders, particularly AD earned him numerous awards and honors. He received the Gunther Buch Award for Research on Aging in 1987, Robert Pfleger Award for Medical Research in 1988, Feldberg Prize for Anglo-German Scientific Exchange in 1989, Potamkin Prize for Alzheimer’s Disease Research in 1990, Metropolitan Life Foundation Award for Medical Research in 1991, IPSEN Foundation Prize in 1991, Max Planck Prize for International Scientific Collaboration in 1991, and Klaus-Joachim Zulch Prize for Neurology in 1995. He was also awarded an honoris causa degree in Medicine from Kuopio University, Finland in 1996 and the Windermere Traveling Professorship at Melbourne in 1997. He is a Member of the Heidelberg Academy for Humanities and Natural Sciences and Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldia in Halle and corresponding member of the Gottenger Academy for Sciences and Natural Sciences.

Professors Beyreuther and Masters have identified a protein known as 13A4 that is a major component of the amyloid plaques and have shown that a gene on chromosome 21 encodes for this protein which is part of a lamer protein called amyloid precursor protein (APP). They later studied the regulation of the synthesis and function of APP and its ability to bind to metallic ions. They hypothesized that the abnormal accumulation of pA4 protein underlies the neuronal changes that lead not only to Alzheimer’s disease but also to other degenerative diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Their research has opened the way to the rational development of novel drugs that can interfere with these pathological processes in hopes of offering some chance of limiting or ameliorating these devastating diseases in the near future. They have published 124 joint papers relating to this field as well as numerous other individual papers.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

James Francis Gusella graduated with a B.Sc. in Biology from the University of Ottawa in 1974 and an M.Sc. in Medical Biophysics from the University of Toronto in 1976. He obtained his Ph.D. (Biology) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1980 and has been working at Harvard Medical School at Massachusetts General Hospital since then. He is currently a Professor of Genetics and the Bullard Professor of Neurogenetics at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Center for Human Genetics Research (CHGR) and its Molecular Neurogenetics Unit at Harvard.

Professor Gusella is one of the most distinguished scholars of medical genetics worldwide. He made significant contributions to knowledge of neurodegenerative disorders in general and Huntington’s disease (HD) in particular. Gusella and his coworkers’ focused their research for many years on tracking down the precise cause of HD. Using reverse genetics for mapping the gene locus of HD on chromosome 4, they were able to identify the gene locus which encodes for Huntingtin, a protein associated with HD, and to elucidate the detailed structure of that gene. These discoveries galvanized both the neuroscience and human genetics communities and set off a torrent of similar studies on other disorders. Gusella and his group also applied their genetic mapping approach to many other disorders involving the nervous system.

Professor Gusella and his colleagues have published 292 papers as well as 78 reviews, symposium contributions and chapters in books. He holds several patents, and his accomplishments were recognized by more than 40 prizes and honors. These awards include, the Metropolitan Life Foundation Award for Medical Research in 1987, the National Health Council Award for Medical Research (to the Huntington’s Disease Collaborative Group) in 1993, the J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine in 1994. Professor Gusella is a fellow or member of major scientific societies and editorial boards and has given numerous lectures at major universities and scientific institutions worldwide.

Professor Gusella and his associates succeeded in mapping the gene locus for Huntington’s disease (BD) on the human chromosome 4. Ten years later he identified the gene locus which encodes for the protein that he called Huntingtin. This seminal discovery enabled him to lead a major collaborative investigation that has culminated in the unraveling of the detailed structure of the HD gene and the expanded CAG repeats that underlie the neurodegenerative changes that characterize this condition. This work has made possible the prenatal and presymptomatic testing of individuals which, in turn, provides the opportunity for genetic counseling in families with a history of BD. Subsequently Professor Gusella and his team were able to identify the chromosomal localization of genes involved in two other neurodegenerative conditions, Alzheimer’s disease (on chromosomes 21 and 14) and familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (on chromosome 21).

He and his team are now developing animal models in which to investigate further HD and other hereditary neurodegenerative conditions. In parallel with this pioneering work Professor Gusella has made an outstanding contribution to the training of large numbers of research workers and his laboratory has acquired a unique international reputation as a focus for neurobiological research.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

Colin Masters obtained a bachelor’s degree in physiology (First Class Honors) in 1967, an M.B.B.S. and an M.D. in medical neuropathology from the University of Australia in 1970 and 1977, respectively. After graduation from medical school, he served at the Royal Perth Hospital as a research fellow in the Department of Pathology at the University of West Australia and a Resident at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth. He spent four years as a research fellow at the Department of Neuropathology in Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA. and as a visiting scientist at the NIH Laboratory of Central Nervous System Studies in Bethesda, MD. Between 1980-1981, he was a Visiting Professor and Humboldt Fellow in Neurobiology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and for the next 7 years, he was a research fellow at the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. In 1989, he was appointed as a Professor and Head of Pathology at the University of Melbourne, and in 1999, he served as an Associate Dean (Research) of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Britain, the Royal College of Pathologists of Australia, Australian Academy of Science and Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. 

Professor Masters is widely regarded as the most eminent neuroscientist in Australia and one of the world’s foremost experts on neurodegenerative disorders. His interest in neurological diseases dates back to the 1960’s when he was still a medical student. For the next 30 years, he dedicated his research to the study of the nature and pathology of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases (such as Cruetzfeldt Jakob disease, Kuru and Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker Syndrome). In collaboration with Konrad Beyreuther of Heidelberg University, he studied the nature, structure, function and metabolism of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s disease. Masters current research focuses on identifying pathways through which environmental and genetic factors can operate to cause this disease.

Professor Masters received numerous other awards including the Presidential Award from the International Association of Gerontology in 1987, the Potamkin Prize from the American Academy of Neurology in 1990, and the Max Planck Research Award in 1991.

Professors Masters and Beyreuther have identified a protein known as 13A4 that is a major component of the amyloid plaques and have shown that a gene on chromosome 21 encodes for this protein which is part of a lamer protein called amyloid precursor protein (APP). They later studied the regulation of the synthesis and function of APP and its ability to bind to metallic ions. They hypothesized that the abnormal accumulation of pA4 protein underlies the neuronal changes that lead not only to Alzheimer’s disease but also to other degenerative diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Their research opened the way to the rational development of novel drugs that can interfere with these pathological processes some chance of limiting or ameliorating these devastating diseases in the future. Professors Masters and Beyreuther have published 124 joint papers relating to this field as well as numerous other individual papers.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

Tetsuro Fujiwara obtained an M.D. from Iwate Medical University in 1956 and D.M.Sc. from Tohoku University School of Medicine in 1961. Fujiwara began his career as an assistant at Tohoku University hospital in 1961. Between 1962-1964, he went on a fellowship in pediatric cardiology at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), then as a research assistant in pediatrics (1966-1969) at UCLA. In 1970, he was appointed an Associate Professor at Akita University School of Medicine in Morioka, and in 1981, he became a Professor and the Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Iwate Medical University in Marioka. 

Professor Fujiwara’s interest in neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), associated with the so-called “hyaline membrane disease,” started from the early years of his career. This disease was the most frequent cause of death of newborn babies, accounting for hundreds of thousands of deaths annually worldwide. Over a period of 15 years, he carried out joint physiologic and biochemical studies with Professor Forrest H. Adams at UCLA on premature animals and premature infants, which confirmed that the fundamental problem in RDS was the lack of a material known as “surfactant” in the lungs of premature babies. Without this material, a newborn baby could not breathe normally at birth, and must be provided with the surfactant as soon as possible, if there was to be any chance for its survival.

After initial studies with natural surfactant extracted from animals, Fujiwara developed an effective synthetic surfactant for surfactant replacement therapy in premature infants with RDS. Subsequent clinical studies by Fujiwara and his group confirmed the value of synthetic pulmonary surfactant therapy in restoring mechanical properties of the lungs, thereby leading to a marked improvement in gas exchange and oxygenation. The group also developed the “microtubule test” for prediction of RDS based on testing the amniotic fluid from the mother or gastric aspirate from the neonate.

Professor Fujiwara authored and co-authored hundreds of research papers and more than 90 books. He received the Japan Medical Association Award for Promotion of Medical Research in 1981, the Japanese Pediatric Society Prize, and the Nippon Culture Award in 1987. He is a member of several medical and scientific societies, including: the Japanese Pediatric Society, the Japan Society of Neonatology, the Japan Medical Association and the Japan Medical Society for Biological Interface. He is also an Honorary Member of the Italian Society of Prenatal Medicine, Advisor to the International Pediatric Society and Member of the editorial board of the European Journal of Pediatrics.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

Bengt Robertson studied medicine at the Karolinska Institute in 1960, followed in 1968 by a Ph.D. degree on the intrapulmonary arterial pattern during normal infancy and in the transposition of great arteries in 1968. He became Docent in Pathology at the Karolinska Institute in the same year and served for many years as a consultant in pediatric pathology at St. Göran’s Hospital and an acting Professor of Pediatric Pathology at Karolinska Institute. From 1974 until his retirement in 2002, he was the Director of the Experimental Perinatal Pathology in the Department of Women and Child Health at the Karolinska Institute.

Professor Robertson carried out seminal studies into the etiology, prevention, and treatment of the neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), a major cause of death in premature infants. Using animal models, he carried out pioneering research on the physiology and pathophysiology of the respiratory tract as it relates to RDS in premature infants. His team was among the first to show that RDS could be prevented by introducing surfactants into the upper airways prior to the onset of breathing. Subsequently, they established the curative value of surfactant therapy in human premature infants.

Professor Robertson published more than 200 papers and 100 review articles in addition to numerous abstracts and letters, and several books in his specialty, including Pulmonary Surfactant: From Molecular Biology to Clinical Practice and Surfactant Therapy for Lung Disease. He was a member of several societies of medicine, neonatal medicine and pediatric research and the recipient of many awards. His honors include: an Honorary Membership of the Italian Society of Perinatal Medicine, a Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and Hilda and Alfred Eriksson’s Prize awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1988.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

Michael Gimbrone Jr. received his B.A. in Zoology from Cornell University and M.D. from Harvard Medical School. After completing an Internship in Surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital and a Research Fellowship at the Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Boston, he joined the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. He then pursued residency training in Pathology at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston in 1974. He joined Harvard Medical School in 1975 and is currently the Elsie T. Friedman Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Center for Excellence in Vascular Biology and Chairman of the Department of Pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Professor Gimbrone’s outstanding contributions to the field of vascular biology, particularly the biology of vascular inflammation, have established the conceptual framework for understanding the mechanistic role of the endothelial lining of the cardiovascular system in diseases such as atherosclerosis and its complications– heart attack and stroke. He pioneered the growth of human vascular endothelial cells in vitro and was the first to show that endothelial cells produce prostaglandins and other mediators that influence the function of blood platelets and leukocytes. He also established the paradigm of endothelial activation by pro-inflammatory cytokines and discovered inducible endothelial-leukocyte adhesion molecules that are important in inflammation and atherogenesis. His laboratory also identified the first biomechanically activated “shear stress-response element” in the promoter of a human gene, and applied high-throughput genomic analyses to identify “atheroprotective genes” that appear to confer resistance to pro-inflammatory stimuli and the development of atherosclerotic lesions in the cardiovascular system. These seminal studies point the way to new methods for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of vascular disease.

Gimbrone’s studies appeared in more than 250 publications, reviews and book chapters. He received many other prizes including: the Warner Lambert/Parke Davis Award in Experimental Pathology, the American Heart Association Basic Research Prize, the MERIT Award from the U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the Pasarow Foundation Award in Cardiovascular Disease, the J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine, and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Cardiovascular Research.

Professor Gimbrone Jr. has an impressive list of visiting professorships and lectureships in the U.S.A., Europe and Japan, memberships of editorial boards of leading medical journals, and election to prestigious institutions such as the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He is a past President of the American Society for Investigative Pathology and founding President of the North American Vascular Biology Organization.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

Tak Mak obtained his bachelor and master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin (USA), and Ph.D. from the University of Alberta, Canada. He joined the University of Toronto in 1974 and became a Professor at the Department of Medical Biophysics and the Department of Immunology in 1984. In 1991, he became head of the Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology at the Ontario Cancer Institute in Princess Margaret Hospital. He became Founding Director of the Amgen Institute of Toronto and Vice President of Amgen Inc. in 1993. Professor Mak also serves on numerous scientific advisory boards. 

Professor Tak Mak is an internationally acclaimed scholar and leader in immunology research. His studies center on immune recognition and regulation, as well as cell survival and apoptosis (programmed cell death) in normal and malignant cells. He is best known for leading a group that first cloned the genes of the human T-cell antigen receptor. This discovery was a milestone in immunology and is now basic to our understanding of the immune response. His research included also the use of genetically altered mice to unravel intracellular programs governing the development and function of the immune system, and the dissection of signal transduction cascades in various cell survival and apoptotic pathways. His basic research on breast cancer contributed significantly to understanding cancer at the cellular level.

Professor Mak’s landmark scientific accomplishments are documented in over 250 publications, most of which are published in elite journals such as Cell, Science, and Nature. His research has had an enormous impact on immunologists throughout the world. He received numerous prestigious Canadian and International awards and honors. He holds Honorary Doctoral Degrees from several universities in North America and Europe. He is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Royal Society of London (UK).

Professor Mak was awarded the E.W.R. Steacie Award of the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council in Ottawa, the Ayerst Award of the Canadian Biochemical Society, the Emil von Behring Prize, the Gairdner Foundation International Award, and the Gairdner Foundation International Award. 

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

Mark Davis obtained a B.A. in molecular biology from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, an M.D. in 1974, and a Ph.D. from California Institute of Technology in 1981. He worked on immunology research for more than 15 years, first as a post-doctoral researcher at the Immunology Laboratory of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, M.D., then as an instructor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York before joining the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, where he became a professor at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 1991. He also served for several years in the Advisory Committee of the Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Cancer Research Foundation. He is currently the Director of the Doctoral Program in Immunology at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Professor Davis’s research centers on the molecular basis of T cell and B cell recognition. In particular, he studied the biochemical basis of T cell receptor binding to antigen/MHC complexes. He and Professor Mak independently cloned the first gene for T-cell receptors, allowing these immune cells to recognize and inactivate foreign proteins and viruses. This groundbreaking work revolutionized the field of immunology. Davis and his group also described the augmentation of responses triggered in T cells as a result of antigen presentation by B cells, dendritic cells or macrophages.

Author of more than 180 papers, Professor Davis received numerous awards and distinctions including: the Milton and Francis Clauser Doctoral Prize from Caltech in 1981; the Passano Foundation Young Scientist Award in 1985; Eli Lilly Award in Microbiology and Immunology in 1986; the Howard Taylor Ricketts Award in 1988; and the Gairdner Prize in 1989. He is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

Fernand Labrie earned his B.A. from the Séminaire de Québec in 1957, his M.D. and from Laval University in 1962, and his PhD. (Endocrinology) from the same University in 1966. He completed postdoctoral studies at Sussex and Cambridge in Britain. He joined the Faculty of Medicine at Laval University as Assistant Professor in 1966, later becoming Associate Professor in 1969 and a full Professor in 1974.

He founded the first Molecular Endocrinology Research Laboratory in the world at Laval University in Quebec in 1969. He then became the Chairman of the Department of Molecular Endocrinology at the Center Hospitalier de l’Université Laval (CHUL) in 1972, a full time physician in the Department of Medicine during the same year, and a Research Director at the CHUL Research Center in 1982, where about 150 senior investigators, 450 graduate students and 600 members of research personnel have been working under his leadership. Labrie also chaired the Department of Physiology and Anatomy at Laval University Medical School for 12 years. He was also a former President of the Canadian Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism and the Canadian Society for Clinical Investigation and former Vice-President of the International Society of Neuroendocrinology. He was a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada.

Professor Labrie was one of the most accomplished scholars in the international scientific community. He published more than 1000 scientific articles and was the most cited Canadian scientist among all disciplines in the world, his studies having been cited more than 40,000 times. His most important contribution to prostate cancer research was the advent of “reversible chemical castration” for the treatment of prostate cancer. This ground-breaking treatment strategy replaced orchiectomy (surgical removal of the testis) and the use of high doses of female hormones (estrogens), which were the standard treatment methods for prostate cancer, thus removing both the psychological disadvantage of orchiectomy and the cardiovascular complications of high estrogen doses, and thereby improving the patient’s quality of life. Another major contribution by Labrie was the development and clinical application of a new combined hormone therapy (combined androgen blockade) which can induce a complete cure of localized prostate cancer and extend a patient’s survival in metastatic cases. Professor Labrie and his group also pioneered the screening and early detection of prostate cancer. In short, Professor Labrie and his team brought a successful paradigm of prostate cancer treatment which is now helping hundreds of thousands of patients worldwide.

Professor Labrie’s outstanding contributions to molecular endocrinology and oncology were recognized by many awards and distinctions. In 1979, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 1981, he was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1991, he was appointed Officer of the National Order of Quebec, and in 1999, he was awarded the prestigious Izaak Walton-Killam Memorial Prize of the Canada Council for Arts in 1999. He was also the recipient of the Medal of the College de France in 1984, the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002, and “Man of the Year” from the American Biographical Institute in 2005.

Professor Labrie was a member of around 70 professional associations and was invited on more than 470 occasions to present his work at national and international symposia and lectureships. He was also a member, associate member or corresponding member of the editorial boards of many leading scientific and medical journals.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.

Patrick Walsh obtained both his B.A. and M.D. degrees from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio in 1960 and 1964, respectively, and completed residencies in adult and pediatric surgery in Boston and in Urology in Los Angeles. He spent one year with Professor Jean Wilson at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, where the two were the first to describe the 5a-reductase enzyme deficiency, the first to develop a technique for the experimental induction of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and the first to demonstrate the effect of reversible androgen deprivation on BPH. In 1974, he moved to Johns Hopkins University and Hospital in Maryland, where he became the David Hall McConnell Professor and the Director of Urology at the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute for 30 years. He is currently a Distinguished Service Professor of Urology at Johns Hopkins University.

Professor Walsh is recognized worldwide as the inventor of nerve sparing radical prostatectomy for the treatment of prostate cancer. His surgical technique has substantially improved the potency and continence of prostate cancer patients, enhanced their quality of life, and significantly reduced the risks of post-operative mortality and progression to metastasis. His surgery became one of the most widely used strategies for treating organ confined prostate cancer. Walsh created a two-hour DVD that provides a detailed description of his technique and distributed it free to 50,000 urologists worldwide. He also made other significant contributions towards better understanding of hereditary aspects, pathogenesis, and genetic susceptibility to prostate cancer; he also showed the value of serial prostate specific antigen measurement as a means of improving the diagnosis of prostate cancer and predicting its outcome.

Professor Walsh authored and co-authored more than 430 papers, 3 books and 8 video presentations. He is also the second most cited author in the field of prostate cancer. His achievements were recognized by more than 20 prestigious prizes and medals, a long list of lectureships, visiting professorships, editorships, and fellowships of prestigious professional associations and societies such as the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He is the President of the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons and the Clinical Society of Genitourinary Surgeons, and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and Ireland.

For 25 years, he was the Chief Editor of the Campbell’s Textbook of Urology; which was renamed Campbell-Walsh Urology in his honor. He is presently on the editorial board of the New England Journal of Medicine. Along with Janet Worthington, he authored two of the best-selling books on prostate cancer for general readers: The Prostate: A Guide for Men and the Women Who Love Them published in 1995 and 1997, and Dr. Patrick Walsh’s Guide for Surviving Prostate Cancer published in 2001. In 2007, he was selected with two others for the “Top Physician of the Year” award. In the same year, a group of his former patients established The Patrick C. Walsh Prostate Cancer Research Fund in his honor. Despite his numerous professional responsibilities, Professor Walsh manages to dedicate time to practice his hobbies of sailing, swimming and cycling.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.