The 2009 American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Eli Lilly and Company Research Award is being presented to Joseph L. DeRisi, Ph.D., Howard Hughes Medical Investigator and professor, Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco. This award recognizes fundamental research of unusual merit in microbiology or immunology by an individual on the threshold of his or her career.
Dr. DeRisi is honored for his work in advancing the basic technology and informatics for DNA microarrays and using these tools to investigate basic biological regulatory mechanisms. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University and is credited with developing custom microarrays to study the molecular biology of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. His first papers in this area established the paradigm for how arrays can be used to study global changes in gene expression accompanying changes in physiological conditions. His analysis of the changes accompanying the shift from fermentation to respiration was the first paper of its kind and remains one of the most insightful analyses of its type.
Currently, Dr. DeRisi is working on the application of advanced genomic technologies to the study of human infectious diseases. He pioneered the design, construction, and use of a chemostat-like bioreactor that allows large-scale growth of synchronized cultures of Plasmodium falciparum merozooites in human blood. With this system, he completed a comprehensive array-based analysis of periodic gene expression by the parasite as it undergoes its remarkably synchronized life cycle. The work shows the temporal progression of classes of parasite gene expression and suggests that a simple network of transcription factors may underlie it. Published by PLOS Biology, it is one of the most significant discoveries in basic malaria research in the past decade.
The Eli Lilly and Company Research Award will be presented during the 109th General Meeting of the ASM, May 17-21, 2009 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ASM is the world's oldest and largest life science organization and has more than 43,000 members worldwide. ASM's mission is to advance the microbiological sciences and promote the use of scientific knowledge for improved health and economic and environmental well-being.