News Release

Wistar Scientist Chosen For Lupus Foundation of Philadelphia's Sheryl N. Hirsch Award

Grant and Award Announcement

The Wistar Institute

Philadelphia -- Andrew Caton, Ph.D., an associate professor in The Wistar Institute's Tumor Immunology Program, has been chosen to receive the Lupus Foundation of Philadelphia's prestigious Sheryl N. Hirsch Award.

This year marks the third time Dr. Caton has received this award for his research on system lupus erythematosus, a complex disease thought to result from a faulty immune system. In particular, he is examining immune responses to foreign antigens. His findings are expected to provide insights into the role infections play in the initiation and exacerbation of lupus.

Dr. Caton came to The Wistar Institute in 1984, after earning his Ph.D. in virology from the University of Cambridge, U.K., and working as a postdoctoral assistant in molecular biology at the University of Oxford, U.K.

Sheryl N. Hirsch, for whom the annual award is named, died of lupus in 1981. She and her mother, Goldie Simon, founded the Lupus Foundation of Philadelphia to educate patients, their families, the medical community and the general public about lupus, and to promote research in the hope of finding a cure.

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The Wistar Institute, established in 1892, was the first independent medical research facility in the country. For more than 100 years, Wistar scientists have been making history and improving world health through their development of vaccines for diseases that include rabies, German measles, infantile gastroenteritis (rotavirus), and cytomegalovirus; discovery of molecules like interleukin-12, which are helping the immune system fight bacteria, parasites, viruses and cancer; and location of genes that contribute to the development of diseases like breast, lung and prostate cancer. Wistar is a National Cancer Institute Cancer Center.



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