NEW YORK, March 15, 2007 -- On Monday, March 26, The Biotechnology Study Center of NYU School of Medicine will hold its annual awards symposium to honor three outstanding pioneers in biomedical research. The Dart/NYU Biotechnology Achievement Awards recognize the role of pure science in the development of pharmaceuticals, and particularly honor those scientists whose work has led to major advances at the bedside. A traditional Steuben glass sculpture and honorarium accompanies each award.
The 2007 awards will be given to Joan V. Ruderman, who has elucidated the most basic of life processes: the cell division cycle; Salvador Moncada for his discovery that nitric oxide is both the target and effector of a score of compounds now in the clinic for the treatment of cardiovascular and rheumatic diseases; and Charles N. Serhan for leading a worldwide effort to discover new chemical signals that control inflammation and its resolution.
These distinguished medical researchers will receive their awards at a ceremony to be held at 4:00 p.m. in Schwartz Lecture Hall F at NYU School of Medicine. Dr. Gerald Weissmann, Director of the Biotechnology Study Center, will chair the symposium, which will be co-sponsored by The Honors Program and feature presentations by each of the awardees.
The ceremony will be followed by a public reception in the Faculty Dining Room. Since 2004, the awards have been aided by a generous grant from Dart Neuroscience LLP and are awarded on behalf of the Fellows of the Center.
THE AWARD RECIPIENTS
In Basic Biotechnology: Joan V. Ruderman (Marion V. Nelson Professor of Cell Biology at the Harvard Medical School)
Dr. Ruderman’s work has elucidated the most basic of life processes: the cell division cycle. Her early work, carried out mainly with eggs of clams, sea urchins and frogs, led to a breakthrough in our understanding of how two types of proteins, cyclins and the cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs), control entry into mitosis in all organisms ranging from yeast to humans. She and colleagues further discovered the nature of the highly regulated proteolytic activity that destroys the cyclins, which induces cells to complete mitosis and divide into two daughter cells. More recently, her work has revealed how another kinase, Aurora-A, collaborates with cyclins and CDKs to control the timing of entry into mitosis, as well as the process of chromosome segregation during mitotic exit and cell division. Numerous drugs that block specific CDKs and Aurora kinases are being developed; several are currently in clinical trials as anti-tumor agents. She is now focused on emerging classes of pollutants, such as certain plasticizers, that mimic the activities of steroid hormones like estrogens. She is particularly interested in developing simple assays to detect hormonally active compounds in the environment.
In Applied Biotechnology: Salvador Moncada, FRS (Director, Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research, University College London)
The most often cited scientist in the United Kingdom, Dr. Moncada has made major contributions in three areas of cardiovascular pharmacology. Together with the late Sir John Vane, he showed that low-dose aspirin blocked the synthesis of stable prostaglandins and thromboxanes from arachidonic acid, a finding that has had a major impact on cardiovascular mortality from stroke and myocardial infarction worldwide. He next elucidated the structure of prostacyclin, a compound formed by endothelial cells that relaxes blood vessels and prevents platelets from clumping; its derivatives ameliorate vasospasm and pulmonary hypertension. But perhaps his greatest contribution appeared in Nature (June, 1987): "Nitric oxide release accounts for the biological activity of endothelium-derived relaxing factor." In the last two decades, Moncada's nitric oxide has become appreciated as a neurotransmitter, a regulator of vessel tone, a modulator of inflammation, and a sensor of cellular distress. Nitric oxide is both the target and effector of a score of compounds now in the clinic for the treatment of cardiovascular and rheumatic diseases.
The NYU Alumnus Achievement Award: Charles N. Serhan (Simon Gelman Professor at Harvard Medical School and Director, Center for Experimental Therapeutics and Reperfusion Injury at Brigham and Women' s Hospital)
After obtaining his PhD at the NYU School of Medicine, Dr. Serhan took his post-doctoral fellowship with Prof. Bengt Samuelsson (Prix Nobel 1982) in Stockholm. Almost immediately, he was successful in identifying novel lipid structures formed in the course of cell/cell interactions. Studying inflammation and its resolution, he identified, characterized, and worked out the modes of action of compounds he himself named lipoxins, aspirin-triggered epimers of lipoxins (ASL’s), resolvins, protectins, etc. The receptors for these agents turned out to recognize both endogenous ligands and novel derivatives that hold great pharmaceutical promise. Most recently he has found that some of these lipid intermediates function in the nervous system as regulators of neurogenesis. His laboratory leads a worldwide effort to discover new chemical signals that control inflammation and its resolution.
Previous Winners
This is the seventh year that The Biotechnology Study Center is holding an awards symposium. In previous years, Craig Venter, David Baltimore, Alexander Rich, Eugene Bell, Richard Lerner, among other notable scientists, have been honored. The award also honors members of the NYU School of Medicine community whose achievements have resulted in far-reaching therapeutic advances. Jan Vilcek, Barry Coller and Stuart Schlossman are among those who have received awards in previous years.
The previous winners are listed below.
2001
For Basic Biotechnology: CELERA GENOMICS (J. Craig Venter)
For Applied Biotechnology: ALEXION (Leonard Bell)
NYU Alumnus Biotechnology Award: STEVEN SHAK (Genentech)
2002
For Basic Biotechnology: DAVID BALTIMORE (Cal. Inst. Technology)
For Applied Biotechnology: CELGENE (Sol J. Barer)
NYU Faculty Biotechnology Award: JAN T. VILCEK (NYU)
2003
For Basic Biotechnology: ALEXANDER RICH (MIT)
For Applied Biotechnology: EUGENE BELL (MIT)
NYU Alumnus Biotechnology Award: BARRY COLLER (Rockefeller)
2004
For Basic Biotechnology: MATTHEW S. MESELSON, (Harvard University)
For Applied Biotechnology: WILLIAM P. AREND, (University of Colorado)
NYU Biotechnology Faculty Award: PETER ELSBACH, (NYU School of Medicine)
2005
For Basic Biotechnology: RICHARD A. LERNER (Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA)
For Applied Biotechnology: PHILIP NEEDLEMAN (Washington University St. Louis, MO; Partner, Prospect Ventures)
The NYU Alumnus Award in Biotechnology: STUART F. SCHLOSSMAN (Harvard Medical School)
2006
For Basic Biotechnology: JEAN-PIERRE CHANGEUX (Institut Pasteur, Collège de France)
In Applied Biotechnology: CHARLES WEISSMANN (Scripps, Florida)
The NYU Alumnus Achievement Award: ERIC KANDEL (Columbia University)
About the Center
The Biotechnology Study Center brings together an extraordinary group of biomedical scientists, social scientists, legal experts, and business leaders, who are among the top movers and shakers in their fields. It was established in 2000 by Dr. Weissmann, Research Professor of Medicine at NYU School of Medicine and Director of the Biotechnology Study Center, and Nobel laureates Sir John Vane of the William Harvey Research Institute, and Bengt Samuelsson of the Karolinska Institute, among others.
A list of the Center’s Fellows can be obtained by calling the Public Affairs Office at NYU School of Medicine.