Ribosome scholar receives Gairdner Prize

Thomas A. Steitz, Ph.D., Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, professor of chemistry and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, was among five scientists honored in April with the 2007 Gairdner International Award to recognize their contributions to medical science. The Gairdner Foundation honored Steitz and Harry F. Noller, Ph.D., of the University of California, Santa Cruz, for pioneering work that led to the identification of the detailed structure and function of the ribosome, the subcellular structure in which proteins are synthesized. Steitz and Noller identified that RNA-catalyzed reactions are critical, and their work explains how many antibiotics operate and how new ones can be developed.

Steitz uses X-ray crystallography and molecular biology techniques to establish the structures and mechanisms of the proteins and nucleic acids involved in gene expression, replication and recombination. In 2000, Steitz and colleagues published two articles in the journal Science in which they unveiled the basic structure of the ribosome. Their work provided the first unequivocal proof that the ribosome is a ribozyme, an RNA enzyme. Steitz and his colleagues used a high-energy X-ray beam to probe fragile crystals of RNA and protein and produce detailed images of the ribosome, where amino acids are linked to form chainlike proteins.

In more recent experiments, Steitz and his team have been studying antibiotic resistance. Their research has shown how the main target of antibiotics in bacterial cells becomes resistant to some medications. The findings are already leading to new experimental antibiotics that are being engineered to circumvent resistance, which is a major worldwide health problem.

Each Gairdner awardee will receive $30,000 in October in Toronto. The awardees are chosen by two advisory committees made up of leading medical scientists from Canada and around the world.

According to the Gairdner Foundation, 68 of the 283 scientists who have received the award in the past 48 years have gone on to win the Nobel Prize. Last year, the award went to two Yale scientists. Joan A. Steitz, Ph.D., Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator,was honored for her discovery of snRNPs, complexes of protein and RNA that edit and splice other RNA strands to form messenger RNA, the genetic recipe used by the cell’s protein-making machinery. Thomas D. Pollard, M.D., chair and Sterling Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, was recognized along with his colleague Alan Hall, Ph.D., of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, for discovering the molecular basis of cellular motility and the mechanism of its regulation. In 2004, Arthur L. Horwich, M.D., HS ’78, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Genetics and Pediatrics and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, was honored for his findings on protein folding and its relevance to neurodegenerative diseases.

Special advisor leaves dean’s office post

Lawrence S. Cohen, M.D., HS ’65, the Ebenezer K. Hunt Professor of Medicine, has stepped down after 16 years in the dean’s office but will continue as a faculty member and practicing cardiologist. As deputy dean from 1991 to 1997, then as special advisor, his responsibilities ranged from overseeing faculty appointments and promotions to raising money for endowed professorships to investigating scientific misconduct and fraud.

Cohen came to Yale in 1958 as an intern, following undergraduate studies at Harvard University and medical school at New York University. Twelve years later, after stints in Baltimore, Boston, Bethesda, Md., and Dallas, he returned to Yale as chief of cardiology.

In 1991 Cohen was appointed deputy dean of the medical school by then-Dean Leon Rosenberg, M.D. He continued in that position under Rosenberg’s successor, Gerard N. Burrow, M.D., and as special advisor to former Dean David A. Kessler, M.D., and Dean Robert J. Alpern, M.D.

Notes

Becca Levy

Two Yale scientists have received Investigator Awards from the Patrick and Catherine Weldon Donaghue Medical Research Foundation for Health-Related Research this year. These awards will fund studies about the way the elderly see themselves, as well as new treatments to help people continue to drive. Each researcher will receive $600,000 over five years.

Becca R. Levy, Ph.D., associate professor of epidemiology (chronic diseases) and psychology, will conduct a randomized controlled trial aimed at increasing behaviors that promote good health in older individuals.

Hal Blumenfeld, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of neurology, neurobiology and neurosurgery, will study patients using driving simulators during epileptic seizures. While patients are “driving,” neuroimaging and electrical measurements will help determine the brain regions involved in epileptic seizures and how seizures cause loss of consciousness.

Three appointments to endowed professorships were announced in May. R. Lawrence Moss, M.D., has been named the Robert Pritzker Professor of Pediatric Surgery. John A. Persing, M.D., has been named the Irving and Silik Polayes Professor of Plastic Surgery. Robert T. Schultz, Ph.D., was appointed the Harris Associate Professor of Psychology and Child Psychiatry.

Moss specializes in general, thoracic and laparoscopic children’s surgery, neonatal surgery and the separation of conjoined twins, as well as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. He is surgeon in chief at the Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital and chief of pediatric surgery at the School of Medicine. He also serves as program director of the School of Medicine’s Fellowship in Pediatric Surgery. He joined the Yale faculty in 2002 after teaching at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and the Stanford University Medical Center.

Persing specializes in craniofacial surgery, with a particular interest in craniosynostosis, the premature fusing of cranial sutures, which often results in abnormal brain and skull growth. His clinical and research interests also include the treatment of craniofacial trauma; vascular malformations of the head and neck; cranial base tumors; and disorders of the brachial and lumbar plexuses and peripheral nerves. Persing joined the Yale faculty in 1992 as a professor of plastic surgery and neurosurgery and chief of the Section of Plastic Surgery, and as chief of plastic surgery at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Schultz focuses his research on the biological bases of autism spectrum disorders. The director of the Yale Developmental Neuroimaging Program, Schultz also studies genetic forms of mental retardation, such as Williams syndrome, and a variety of other childhood psychiatric disorders. Schultz uses structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and detailed neuropsychological assessments to study brain anatomy and function in these disorders. Using fMRI, he and his colleagues are also mapping brain systems involved in the perception of human faces, facial expressions and inferences of social attribution in patients with autism and Williams syndrome. Schultz came to the Yale Child Study Center in 1994 on a fellowship. He is currently affiliated with both the Child Study Center and the Department of Diagnostic Radiology.

Hal Blumenfeld

Lawrence Moss

John Persing

Robert Schultz

Paula A. Armbruster, M.S.W., associate clinical professor in the Child Study Center, has been named Cambridge Who’s Who Professional of the Year in Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Only one member in each discipline is named Professional of the Year. A selection committee selects Who’s Who honorees based on accomplishments, academic achievement, leadership and service. Armbruster has served on national and local boards, committees and task forces for child mental health, including school-based services, Medicaid managed care and licensing for child outpatient psychiatric services.

Christopher K. Breuer, M.D., assistant professor of surgery (pediatrics) and pediatrics, has received a Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Clinical Scientist Development Award, marking the first time a Yale faculty member has received this award. The foundation provides grants to junior physician-scientists to facilitate their transition to independent clinical research careers.

Paul Cleary

Paul D. Cleary, Ph.D., dean and C-E.A. Winslow Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, was elected to the Connecticut Academy for Science and Engineering in May. The academy was established in 1976 by the Connecticut General Assembly to identify and study technological issues and advances of concern to the citizens of Connecticut. Cleary’s recent research includes a study of how organizational characteristics affect the costs and quality of care for persons with AIDS; a national evaluation of a continuous quality improvement initiative in clinics providing care to HIV-infected individuals; the development of Web-based decision tools to improve cancer care decision making; and a study of the long-term impact of patient-centered hospital care.

Vincent DeVita Jr.

Vincent T. DeVita Jr., M.D., the Amy and Joseph Perella Professor of Oncology at the Yale Cancer Center (YCC),was presented with a Statesman Award by the American Society of Clinical Oncology at its annual meeting in Chicago. The award pays tribute to members whose work has contributed to the betterment of the society. This year, the award gives special recognition to outstanding past achievement. Director of the YCC from 1993 to July 2003, DeVita currently serves as chair of the YCC Advisory Board. He spent the early part of his career at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). In 1980 he was appointed director of the NCI and the National Cancer Program, a position he held until 1988.

Daniel DiMaio

Daniel C. DiMaio, M.D., Ph.D., has been named scientific director of the Yale Cancer Center (YCC). DiMaio will have broad oversight of all basic science research within the YCC. He is currently vice chair of the Department of Genetics, the Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Genetics and professor of therapeutic radiology. As part of his new responsibilities, he will chair the YCC Scientific Steering Committee, whose mandate is to recommend expenditures of funds for scientific recruitment and programmatic enhancements. He will also oversee the Basic Science Research Program Division.

Bernard G. Forget, M.D., professor of medicine (hematology) and genetics, is one of 10 Yale faculty members named fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Forget researches the mechanisms of normal and abnormal gene expression during red blood cell differentiation. Fellows are scholars and practitioners of disciplines ranging from mathematics, physics, biological sciences, social sciences, humanities and the arts to public affairs and business. The newly elected fellows will be inducted at a ceremony in October at the academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.

Arthur Horwich

Arthur L. Horwich, M.D., HS ’78, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Genetics and Pediatrics and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, received the Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences in April for his contributions to the understanding of how proteins fold. He was honored along with Franz-Ulrich Hartl, M.D., Dr.Med., of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Germany. Over the last 17 years, Horwich and Hartl’s labs have helped explain how proteins are transformed from chains of amino acids to three dimensional structures whose shape determines their function. The prize is given by the Wiley Foundation, which was established in 2001 by John Wiley & Sons, a 200-year-old publisher of scientific, technical and medical books and online services.

Carol H. Lee, M.D., professor of diagnostic radiology and chair of the Breast Imaging Commission of the American College of Radiology, was named the second leading Women’s Imaging Specialist in the April 2007 issue of Medical Imaging magazine. The second annual Medical Imaging Industry Top 10 honors professionals whose knowledge is incorporated into practice—improving the lives of people with cutting-edge techniques, industry interaction and problem-solving abilities.

Arthur Levy

Arthur L. Levy, M.D., associate clinical professor of medicine and nursing, has been appointed medical director for medical oncology. Levy will oversee clinical activities in the medical oncology practice at the Yale Cancer Center (YCC). In addition to his administrative and leadership roles at the YCC, Levy will be actively involved in the training and education of medical students, house staff and fellows. As part of this role, he will continue to care for cancer patients with a wide range of diseases, including lymphoma and other hematologic malignancies as well as solid tumors. Before joining the YCC Levy was a medical oncologist in private practice in New Haven for 30 years. He is the author or co-author of numerous articles, book chapters and reviews, including several on hematologic malignancies.

Charles Lockwood

Charles J. Lockwood, M.D., the Anita O’ Keefe Young Professor of Women’s Health and chair of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences, has been named president of the Society for Gynecologic Investigation (SGI) for the 2007–2008 term. The SGI is the world’s leading research organization in reproductive sciences. Lockwood will preside over the society’s 2008 annual meeting in San Diego with Hugh S. Taylor, M.D., associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences and of molecular, cellular and developmental biology, who will serve as the meeting’s program director. Lockwood served as SGI president-elect in 2006–2007 and previously served as SGI secretary-treasurer.

Bernard Lytton, M.B.B.S., the Donald Guthrie Professor Emeritus of Surgery/Urology, was elected president of the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons in April. The term is for one year.

Cindy R. Miller, M.D., associate professor and co-section chief of pediatric imaging in diagnostic radiology, received the Jack O. Haller Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Society of Pediatric Radiology (SPR) in April. The award is given in memory of Haller, who excelled as an educator, mentor and author. The SPR is dedicated to leadership in advancing pediatric health care through medical imaging and image-related therapy.

Gil Mor

Gil Mor, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences, received the J. Christian Herr Award from the American Society for Reproductive Immunology in May. The award is given annually to a person who has made outstanding achievements in basic or applied research in reproductive immunology, particularly for investigators involved in technology transfer.

Clarence T. Sasaki, M.D., the Charles W. Ohse Professor of Surgery and chief of the Section of Otolaryngology, has been named president of the American Broncho-Esophagological Association (ABEA), after three years as the association’s treasurer. The ABEA’s multidisciplinary membership supports research related to diseases of the vocal tract, hypopharynx and esophagus.

Robert S. Sherwin, M.D., the C.N.H. Long Professor of Medicine, received the Banting Medal for Scientific Achievement from the American Diabetes Association (ADA) at the organization’s 67th Scientific Sessions in Chicago in June. The Banting Medal honors an individual who has made significant long-term contributions to our understanding of diabetes, its treatment and/or prevention.

Warren D. Shlomchik, M.D., associate professor of medicine and immunobiology, received a Clinical Scientist Award in Translational Research from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund in March. The $750,000 award supports established physician-scientists who are dedicated both to mentoring physician-scientist trainees and to translational research. Shlomchik studies graft versus host disease and graft versus leukemia in allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

Gerald Shulman

Gerald I. Shulman, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine (endocrinology) and of cellular and molecular physiology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, was one of 72 new members elected to the National Academy of Sciences in May in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Those elected, including 18 foreign associates, bring the number of active members to 2,025. Shulman is known as an expert on diabetes. His lab group examines insulin resistance in patients with diabetes and in transgenic mouse models. The lab’s long-term objectives are to elucidate the cellular mechanisms of insulin resistance and to identify new therapeutic targets to reverse insulin resistance in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Robert I. White Jr., M.D., professor of diagnostic radiology, has been inducted into the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars for his work in the fields of radiology and cardiology. The society inducts former postdoctoral fellows and junior and visiting faculty at Johns Hopkins who have distinguished themselves in the sciences or humanities.


			Originally published in Yale Medicine, Autumn 2007. Copyright © 2007 Yale University School of Medicine. All rights reserved.