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Donald Kennedy, Stanford’s eighth president, dead at 88 on April 21, 2020, of COVID-19
Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Article ID #275: Donald Kennedy, Stanford’s eighth president, dead at 88 on April 21, 2020, of COVID-19. Published on 4/22/2020
WordCloud Image Produced by Adam Tubman
Donald Kennedy, who served as Stanford’s eighth president, helped set the stage for its transformation into one of the nation’s top research universities.
BY KATHLEEN J. SULLIVAN
Donald Kennedy, a neurobiologist who became the eighth president of Stanford in 1980 and helped set the stage for its transformation into one of the nation’s top research universities during his 12 years in office, died April 21, 2020, of COVID-19 at Gordon Manor, a residential care home in Redwood City where he resided for the past two years.
Donald Kennedy, president emeritus and Bing Professor of Environmental Science. (Image credit: Stanford News Service)
Kennedy, who experienced a serious stroke in 2015, was 88.
In his scholarly research, which centered on the properties of small nerve cells, Kennedy established that complex forms of motor activity can be elicited by stimulation of single nerve cells located in the central nervous system of the crayfish. He subsequently pioneered a new technique of dye injection into single nerve cells so that the whole axon, dendrite and cell body of the cell can be seen in the light of the microscope.
His tenure as president was marked by a renewed commitment to teaching by the university, which opened the Stanford Humanities Center, expanded interdisciplinary studies and added campuses overseas. In 1988, Stanford launched Bing Stanford in Washington, which gives undergraduates the opportunity to live, study and work as interns with government agencies and nonprofit organizations in Washington, D.C.
“As we mourn the loss of Don Kennedy, we also salute his enormous contributions to Stanford and to our country,” said Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne.
“As a biologist, as a national voice for science, as a vigorous leader of Stanford University and as an engaging teacher beloved by so many students, Don brought to his endeavors an enduring commitment to academic excellence, a deep wellspring of warmth and good humor and a vision for the possibilities always ahead of Stanford.”
In 1977, Kennedy took a leave of absence from Stanford to become commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under President Jimmy Carter. He later told an interviewer that “the opportunity to serve government is one that scientists should come to regard as a routine part of their career patterns, just as many academic lawyers, political scientists and economists do.”
In deliberating over whether to accept the job, Kennedy said he also thought about his exhortations to students in Stanford’s Human Biology Program to get involved in matters of public policy – and he realized that he should follow his own advice.
Among the challenges he faced at the FDA were controversies over the banning of saccharin, the alleged cancer cure Laetrile, the risks associated with antibiotics in animal feeds, alcoholic beverage labeling, and chronic complaints that the approval process for new drugs either allowed dangerous drugs into the market or impairs innovation.
In 1979, when Kennedy returned to Stanford as provost, the New York Times praised his leadership of the FDA:
“When he came to Washington two years ago, the agency was torn by internal dissension and the charge in Congress that it had become chummy with the industries it regulates. Morale has been raised and the FDA’s reputation is decidedly one of independence. One measure of the respect that Mr. Kennedy won is that spokesmen for both consumer and industry groups, who seldom agree on anything, rate him equally high.”
In 1980, Stanford named Kennedy as its eighth president. He succeeded Richard W. Lyman, who became president of the Rockefeller Foundation.
Editor-in-chief of Science
In 2000, Kennedy became editor-in-chief of Science. In an essay introducing readers to Kennedy, Stanford Professor Paul Ehrlich called Kennedy “one of the broadest, warmest, most talented and most literate scientists ever to grace our business.”
“Among the privileges I most enjoyed at Science was oversight of the weekly editorial page,” Kennedy wrote in A Place in the Sun. “In my nearly eight years at the helm, I had the opportunity to express my views on more than a hundred occasions, writing opinion pieces on such areas of science and policy as dual-use [science can be deployed for good or evil], government secrecy, bioengineering, stem cell research, and climate change that I continue to find most compelling and in need of attention. On occasion I would inject a bit of humor, allowing me to flex my creative muscle.”
In 2008, Kennedy, who had been flying back and forth between Stanford and Washington, D.C., returned to the Farm, where he resumed teaching undergraduates, as well as master’s students enrolled in the Graduate School of Business. He engaged with students across the academic spectrum – from advising undergraduates and writing letters of recommendation for former students to serving on dissertation committees for PhD candidates.
Kennedy was active on a wide variety of boards, nonprofit organizations, foundations and scientific advisory boards, including the national advisory board of the Stanford Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, and the board of directors of QuestBridge, a nonprofit organization based in Palo Alto that connects the nation’s brightest students from low-income backgrounds with leading institutions of higher education and further opportunities. He served as scientific advisor to the PBS NewsHour, and as co-chair of the Committee on Science, Technology, and Law of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Kennedy also served on the board of directors of Supporters of Agricultural Research Foundation.
From Jan. 2005 to June 2013, Kennedy served as a trustee of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, which works with partners around the world for social, cultural and environmental change designed to improve the lives of children, families, and communities.
Kennedy, who was born in New York City on Aug. 18, 1931, earned a bachelor’s degree (1952), a master’s degree (1954) and a doctorate (1956) at Harvard University.
Presiding over Stanford’s annual Commencement exercises, Kennedy delighted in sending the graduates on their way with a favorite quotation from former Illinois governor and presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson. “Your days are short here; this is the last of your springs. And now in the serenity and quiet of this lovely place, touch the depths of truth, feel the hem of Heaven. You will go away with old, good friends. And don’t forget when you leave why you came.”
He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1972 and is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Science, the National Commission for Public Service, and the American Philosophical Society.
Kennedy is survived by his wife, Robin Kennedy, of Menlo Park, California; children Page Kennedy Rochon, of Washington, D.C.; Julia Kennedy Tussing, of Menlo Park, California; Cameron Kennedy, of Washington, D.C.; Jamie Hamill, of Las Vegas; their spouses Mark Rochon, Ted Tussing, Rick Desimone and Rosario Hamill; and nine grandchildren.
A celebration of life will be announced by the family and Stanford University when family, friends and members of the Stanford family can safely congregate.
Article ID #274: My Memories Tell a Story to Share by Larry Howard Bernstein, MD, FCAP. Published 4/19/2020
WordCloud Image Produced by Adam Tubman
Updated on 6/2/2020
In preparation for a PODCAST with Dr. Larry, we prepared the following content:
For many years, he was the Chief Scientific Officer and Member of the Board of Leaders in Pharmaceutical Business Intelligence (LPBI) Group, a Pharmaceutical Media Venture with several Cloud Based products: (1) an Open Access Online Scientific Journal
PharmaceuticalIntelligence.com, (2) a BioMed e-Series of 16 volumes in Medicine (3) A Real Time Press Coverage of Biotech and Medical Conferences (4) a Podcast Library of Interviews with Key Opinion Leaders (4) A Platform with Composition of Methods and (5) a Team of Experts, Authors, Writers.
Dr. Bernstein had contributed 1,400 curated articles to LPBI’s Journal, mentioned above and served as Editor and Content Consultant to each of the 16 volumes in LPBI’s BioMed e-Series.
Examples of the TOP articles in the Journal by e-Readers Views shows the cardinal positioning of Dr. Bernstein’s publications.
Top Posts for all days ending 2020-06-02 (Summarized)
Is the Warburg Effect the Cause or the Effect of Cancer: A 21st Century View?
17,117
Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FACP
Investigator Initiated Research
Recent comprehensive review on the role of ultrasound in breast cancer management
14,242
Dr. D. Nir
Commission by Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Do Novel Anticoagulants Affect the PT/INR? The Cases of XARELTO (rivaroxaban) and PRADAXA (dabigatran)
13,839
Dr. Pearlman, MD, PhD, FACC & Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Commission by Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Paclitaxel vs Abraxane (albumin-bound paclitaxel)
13,709
Tilda Barliya, PhD
Investigator Initiated Research
Apixaban (Eliquis): Mechanism of Action, Drug Comparison and Additional Indications
8,230
Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Investigator Initiated Research
Clinical Indications for Use of Inhaled Nitric Oxide (iNO) in the Adult Patient Market: Clinical Outcomes after Use, Therapy Demand and Cost of Care
7,903
Dr. Pearlman, MD, PhD, FACC & Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Investigator Initiated Research
Mesothelin: An early detection biomarker for cancer (By Jack Andraka)
6,540
Tilda Barliya, PhD
Investigator Initiated Research
Our TEAM
6,505
Internet Access
Tabulation
Biochemistry of the Coagulation Cascade and Platelet Aggregation: Nitric Oxide: Platelets, Circulatory Disorders, and Coagulation Effects
5,221
Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FACP
Investigator Initiated Research
Interaction of enzymes and hormones
4,901
Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FACP
Commission by Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Akt inhibition for cancer treatment, where do we stand today?
4,852
Ziv Raviv, PhD
Investigator Initiated Research
AstraZeneca’s WEE1 protein inhibitor AZD1775 Shows Success Against Tumors with a SETD2 mutation
4,535
Stephen J. Williams, PhD
Investigator Initiated Research
The History and Creators of Total Parenteral Nutrition
4,511
Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FACP
Commission by Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Newer Treatments for Depression: Monoamine, Neurotrophic Factor & Pharmacokinetic Hypotheses
4,365
Zohi Sternberg, PhD
Investigator Initiated Research
FDA Guidelines For Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology (DART) Studies for Small Molecules
4,188
Stephen J. Williams, PhD
Investigator Initiated Research
The Centrality of Ca(2+) Signaling and Cytoskeleton Involving Calmodulin Kinases and Ryanodine Receptors in Cardiac Failure, Arterial Smooth Muscle, Post-ischemic Arrhythmia, Similarities and Differences, and Pharmaceutical Targets
4,038
Dr. Pearlman, MD, PhD, FACC, Larry H. Bernstein, MD, FACP & Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Commission by Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Founder
3,895
Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Investigator Initiated Research
That small sample from a universe of 1,400 articles reflects just a glimpse of the topics that he had covered in his writing.
In addition, in 2020 the Journal ontology has 700 Categories of Research, more than 50% were create by Dr. Bernstein for allowing a precise classification of the wide range of topics his life body of research had covered, chiefly: Cancer, Genomics, Pathology, Coagulation, Cardiovascular, Nutrition, Cell Biology and Biochemistry Processes, at large.
Dr. Bernstein served on the Board of Director of NAACLS and the American Library Association Commission on Accreditation and he is listed in the America’s Top Physicians.
He has three patents:
1. Measuring Lactate Dehydrogenase Isoenzymes by differential inhibition of heart and muscle enzymes using the inhibition by a triplex formed by pyruvate – NAD+ and LDH.
2. Measuring the mitochondrial Malate Dehydrogenase using the inhibition of mMDH by a triplex formed by OAA – NAD+ – and mMDH in the laboratory of Nathan Oren Kaplan (NAS).
3. Measuring a cancer modified MDH by loss of mMDH inhibition with Prof. Johannes Everse. In addition, only a provisional patent was filed for Converting Hematology Based Data into an Inferential Interpretation under the direction of Prof. Ronald Raphael Coifman (NAS). No patent was filed for the statistical determination of myocardial infarct using two assays for creatine kinase MB. No patent was filed for the diagnosis of myaocardial infarct using a neural network under the supervision of Izaak Mayzlin, eminent mathematician from former Soviet Union; No patent was filed for the determination of myocardial infarct using Kullback Entropy.
My lab was the only one to get down to reliable measurements of transthyretin of 20 mg/L. I co-chaired the First International Transthyretin Congress in Strasbourg, at the invitation of Yves Ingenbleek, MD, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology, University Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg.
I chaired the 14th and was an invited participant in the 17th Ross Roundtable on Nutrition, Organized and Chaired the Beckman Roundtable on Pre-albumin in Los Angeles, was responsible for the AACC first document of Standards of Clinical Laboratory Practice with Lawrence Kaplan, and was recipient of the Labbe/Garry award of the Nutrition Division of AACC).
Other projects in normalizing the NT-proBNP for age and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), were successful, but widespread implementation is even more gradual than was TTR.
Could you tell us about the research project that had the most significance in your career?
You worked with two noted researchers – Gil David and Yale University’s Chairman of the Mathematics Department Ronald Coifman – to develop a software system which is today’s equivalent of electronic health records that gathers medical information, generates metrics and analyzes data in real-time, providing a health diagnosis for an individual’s medical condition.
4/19/2020
The Schwartz and Auslander Families
I was born a triplet to David and Lillian Bernstein on December 28, 1941, the first set of triplets born in Highland Park Hospital in some 20 years, but on graduation from Mumford High School, Detroit, Michigan in 1960, we were one of three sets of triplets. We were Larry, Leslie and Linda, who were preceded by Sharon, a sister two years older, also a December baby. Our parents were middle class and our father was a dental technician, so a family with four children was not easy to bring up. We always lived in a household of two families, with my uncle Irving and aunt Elsie Bernstein, living in the lower level, having two children, Barbara, who was our age, and Richard, who was the older brother. When we were born, under the circumstance of my grandmother, Bobby Mulvin (Mulvina in Hungarian), three calls were made in successive days to inform the family in Cleveland, Ohio, of our birth. My mother’s father and mother were Julius and Mulvina Schwartz, from the Hungarian edge of Austria on the Raba River, who moved the family to Cleveland as the intentions of Hitler became clear. My mother had two older brothers and a younger sister, David, Herman and Bernice. David had already been a United States citizen when the Schwartz family moved to the United States in 1931, and Herman was a third year medical student in Budapest after completing a year in Vienna, having been valedictorian of his high school class after special arrangement of his local catholic priest. But Herman had to move from Hungary months prior to graduation because immigration would close. Lillian was 18 years age when she brought her 11 year old sister to America. Julius and David worked in the dry cleaning business in Cleveland. There was also a Mulvina cousin, Biederman, who was a jeweler in Vienna who moved to Cleveland, but his father did not escape the Nazis. Their children were Alan and Marvin, Lois, Robert and Barbara (Liss), Lucille and Janice. Another two generations have passed. Robert was a merit scholar in upstate New York, became a reporter on the Miami Herald, and had three children. He died too young of leukemia. Barbara married and had 3 Wolfe children, two boys and a girl.
I have described the Cleveland side of the family. My mother worked making ties in Cleveland for a friend of my father’s family. She helped bring him to Detroit and married my mother. My father came from Czeckoslovakia, his father having a tree farm on the Carpathian mountains, near the border with Poland. He became a Schochet (kosher chicken). He had a sister, Rivka. Rivka married a cantor after her husband died. My grandmother was in the Auslander family. Auslander means out of the land. A rabbi brought his family out of Spain and changed the family name to Auslander. My grandfather was Meyer and grandmother was Rachel (Bobby Rochel). They lived two streets from the elementary school, so we had lunch at the grandparents house. My grandmother had sisters Esther, Edna, Katie, Jeanette. We go to a next generation rich in talent. This family lived in the city of Detroit, which has an interesting history.
The Jewish Community
Grandfather Meyer was very orthodox, but he shaved, and attended the Gelitzioner Shul, but our mother objected to her children going to an orthodox yeshiva school that was too rigid. Our mother read a lot to become knowledgable and also fluent in the English language. Our father read the Detroit Free Press and the business section daily. Some of our family went to the reform synagogue, Temple Israel, that did not use rigorous Hebrew in prayer. We attended the Bnai Moshe synagogue, which had Rabbi Moses Lehrman, whose daughter became an English teacher at our school. There was a cantor, and there was a superb reader of the Torah (Baal Koreh). The president of the Bnai Moshe was the founder of a salami that was the equal to that in New York.
Detroit
Detroit was a city on the Detroit River that was once known as Fort Ponchartrain at the time of the Revolutionary War with the British. There were Indians at the edge of the Upper Peninsula. The Upper Peninsula was obtained by Governor Lewis Cass from Wisconsin an a trade that made Toledo a part of Ohio. Detroit and the Detroit River became a crossing point for Negroes at the time of flight from the Southern states during the Civil War. Windsor, Ontario was a point of transfer of liquor from Winsor, Ontario. Detroit became important when Henry Ford brought automation into auto manufacturing, and it was followed by Dodge/Crysler and General Motors. Neighboring Dearborn, Michigan became a city where there was later a Ford Museum, and it was known to be only for whites and non-jews. There was also before my arrival an anti-Semitic priest, Father Coughlin. In addition, Henry Ford was known to disseminate “The Elders of Zion. So the city was somewhat divided, as perhaps other cities – like New York. Philadelphia, Chicago, and Los Angeles – that had distinctly jewish and black neighborhoods that one might consider ghettos. The city of Highland Park, within Detroit, was Polish. The jewish neighborhood migrated from Chicago Boulevard toward Livernois, and beyond to beyond Seven Mile Road, and eventually beyond Eight Mile Road, the Detroit border.
My early childhood was on Sturtevant, between Linwood and Dexter. Linwood extended to middle Detroit, where there was an automobile convention center. There was a theater at the corner of Linwood and Livernois. There was an upper middle class neighborhood adjacent to Oak Park, and a zoo on Woodward Avenue. The synagogue my family attended was on Dexter, and there was a butcher shop, a bakery, and the Dexter Davison Market. My aunt Edna had an ice cream parlor a short distance from the synagogue on Dexter. She had two sons and one became a doctor and the other a professor. The McCullough elementary school and across the street a United Hebrew School were walking distance from where my family lived, with many children on our street. Milk was delivered to a milkbox, and an alternative way of entering the home was through the milkbox. The next door neighbor had a dog named Blackie. He was child friendly. There were many children in the neighborhood. My best friend in elementary school was an Armenian boy, Michael Michalian.
High School and College
We moved from the old neighborhood at the time were to attend High School. My brother and I joined the chess club and learned from Peter Wolf, who excelled at it. Mumford High School chess club won the city championship over Redford High School, taking the cup four years in succession. I also found a friend in high school a grade ahead, Fred Baskin, who was extremely bright and very social. The triplets graduated from high school and entered WSU in 1960. When we finished high school we all went to Wayne State University (WSU), where I majored in chemistry, and was a premedical student. Fred had a Merit Scholarship. I prepared myself sufficiently so that if I were not to qualify for medical school, I could follow a suitable career. My older sister, Sharon, was a very fine pianist and she entered WSU with a General Motors Scholarship three years earlier. She excelled in mathematics. She has taught piano for years and still does so at 80 years age. Fred went on to graduate school in biochemistry at University of California, Berkeley and I went on to medical school at Wayne State University upon graduation. My sister Linda did graduate work and obtained a Master degree in biology at Wayne State, married a psychiatry graduate, and they moved to California and raised two boys. I shared the same room as Leslie, but I did not see changes in him that lead to attempted suicide and admittance to the hospital. The three of us spent a summer at the NIH in a study of Schizophrenia. Leslie went to San Diego to be near Linda.
I worked very hard in my first two years of medical school. I engaged in a graduate study in embryology under Harry Maisel in the Anatomy Department, studying the evolution of the proteins of the lens of the eye (crystallins) under Prof. Harry Maisel, but I also studied the changes in the isoenzymes of lactate dehydrogenase (LD). He was an inspiring scientist, but I also had the opportunity to learn electron microscopy under Maurice Bernstein in the same department. When I finished the Master degree I returned to finish the last two years of medical school. This was a valuable experience under two inspiring mentors. In the study of the evolution of the LD isoenzymes I became extremely interested in the work of Nathan Kaplan at the Graduate University of Biochemistry in Boston, and the work of one of his graduate students who looked at the changes in the wings of avians, depending on flight characterics. I chose to go to the University of Kansas Medical School for residency and PhD in pathology. When I arrived in 1968, the pathologist whose work interested me had left to carry on the chairmanship elsewhere, but I was fortunate to meet Masahiro Chiga, who had left an Acting Chairman of Biochemistry to return to pathology. He was an inspiration. I finished less than a year when he recommended that I go to the University of California, San Diego to work with Nathan Kaplan. He modestly said that he had worked with the muscle enzyme of adenylate kinase (myokinase) that is different than the liver enzyme, but he hadn’t had the insight that Kaplan had. I stayed in touch with him until his death. My mother developed gastric cancer, quite rare then, and I visited her several times before she died. I also dated an old Mumford schoolmate, Audrey Mellon, who I married before going to San Diego.
University of Calfornia, San Diego
I found myself in a completely different environment in San Diego. One part of it was the enormous scientific environment, not only with Kaplan’s laboratory his two competent two assistants, and his several postdoctoral students, but also my engagement with several staff biochemists. There were presentations in the hallway next to Prof. Kaplan’s office, and some were from outside research institutions. It was amazing how when the medical school was opened, it had drawn talents from all of the best institutions. An unintended benefit was the beautiful ocean, the nearby La Jolla, and nearby other research centers. Dr. Kaplan was the Editor, and he cofounded Methods in Enzymology with Sidney Colowick, who had worked with Carl and Gerty Cori (Nobel Laureates) in St. Louis. They had both worked with Fritz Lippman in the discovery of Coenzyme A , the cofactor that acts as an acyl carrier, and either activates the acyl group for group transfer or electrophilic attack, or increases the acidity of the protons adjacent to the carbonyl group. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology in 1945 with Hans Krebs, who elucidated the Krebs cycle. Kaplan’s role in the discovery was significant. Interestingly, Hans Krebs work was related to work carried out in the laboratory of Otto Warburg (Nobel Laureate, 1937)), whose work pioneered the study of mitochondrial impairment if cancer.
My own work was not with lactate dehydrogenase, but with Malate dehydrogenase, a critical enzyme linked to mitochondrial function. While LDH catalyze the conversion of pyruvate to lactate with NADH as cofactor and the transfer of a proton, the reverse reaction was inhibited by a ternary complex formed by LDH-NAD- and lactate, but this reaction was weak with the muscle type LDH compared to the heart type LDH. In a similar manner the malate dehydrogenase had a mitochondrial and cytoplasmic isoenzyme, the mitochondrial MDH forming a ternary complex, but not the cytoplasmic enzyme. I spent many months purifying the mitochondrial enzyme from 50 lb of chicken hearts with first an ammonium sulfate precipitation, then a column separation, and dialysis. A study of the mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase was followed by stopped flow analysis and that showed the inhibition by transfer of the hydrogen to form a ternary complex.
I returned to residency in pathology at UCSD under an NIH fellowship with Averill Liebow in the next year. Liebow was an internationally known expert in pulmonary pathology. He was also very amazing. A resident from Yale referred to Liebow noticing him sleeping in the back row and the professor called his name, the son of so and so, you can’t sleep in my class. His car was the first in the lot, until I came. Then when I went to the VA Hospital and parked on the other side, he noted that I parked around the corner. The chief of chemistry at the VA was an outstanding teacher and biochemist who subsequently took a position at Beckman-Coulter. I set up an assay in a study of swimming rats with Liebow. My first daughter was born during my residency and it was fascinating watching her learn to stand up. I took her to the San Diego zoo on weekends and she would stand up in her crib and say zoo, zoo. It was at this time that I collected urine specimens for a study of adenylate kinase with Percy Russell, and also took serum specimens from a study of creatine kinase MB in myocardial infarction that was done by the cardiologist Burton Sobel for my own study that was published.
At the end of my residency I had to give two years for my time deferred from the Vietnam War. Liebow called the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington to give me the best placement. I then spent the next two years working in orthopedic pathology with Lent C. Johnson, who was quite a genius. He determined the normal ratio of bone forming to bone removing cells, and did pioneering work in bone cancer. Liebow wanted me to return after the two years, but he had a stroke. At the end of two years I took a pathology position at the University of South Florida, Tampa, under Herschel Sidransky.
Herschel was an outstanding researcher from University of Pittsburg Medical School. He had several outstanding researchers in his department. I returned to my studies of malate dehydrogenase and in particular, the mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase in hepatic cancer from Herschel Sidransky’s animals. I had a grant from the Cancer Society. I also had the support in statistics from a mathematician.
Herschel became the Chairman of Pathology at George Washington University, Washington, DC. Several faculty went with him, but I received a substantial salary increase and a supportive offer from the University of South Alabama, Mobile, with a very enthusiastic pathology chairman. Just prior to leaving Florida, Naomi was born. I took on a role with the Medical Technology Program, and I also participated in program reviews, and some time later was on the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards. The Chairman was a capable and enthusiastic neuropathologist who intended to build a good department, but it was not long after that the Chair of Medicine, also the Dean, set up a clinical laboratory for his own interest, without merit. I submitted a cancer grant proposal that was approvingly reviewed by the Chairman of Physiology. It was approved by the NIH without funding, with suggestions to consider. That was a point that I chose to move, and after two years, I moved the family to Des Moines, Iowa to work at the Iowa Methodist Medical Center, the second largest after University Hospital. The President of the hospital sent me a high school student and we completed a project on fetal lung maturity that we published. However, the move was not a good match, as the Chairman’s main concern was outside laboratory work and there was also a laboratory manager who was manipulative.
After two years we moved to Binghamton, New York to a position with Gustavo Reynoso, who came from Rochester, New York and was a very respected pathologist. There was a consolidation of hospitals that led to Dr. Reynoso taking the chairmanship of pathology at Norwalk Hospital, in Norwalk, Connecticut, and he procured a position for me at Bridgeport Hospital, in Bridgeport, CT. The move was very good with an excellent staff in pathology, and I was the director of chemistry and blood bank. This time I stayed for 20 years, and developed a very good relationship with the medical staff, the Chairman of Pathology, Dr. Marguerite Pinto, and particularly with my supervisors in Blood Bank and Chemistry. My Blood Bank supervisor married and moved to Greece and eventually was in charge of the Athens Blood Program.
My relationship with the residents in medicine and cardiology was very collaborative. When I was in the hospital recovering from a femoral fracture, I received a call from I.J. Good, Chairman and Editor of a mathematics journal to whom I had sent cardiac enzyme data some years before. He had finished and validated a program “Diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction from two measurements of creatine kinase isoenzyme MB with use of nonparametric probability estimation”, and they successfully ran the data. We published the paper in Clinical Chemistry. The President of the College of American Pathologist complimented the work at a national meeting. I also met another pathologist, Rosser Rudolph, at a pathology meeting and he had developed a powerful mathematical program that determined the entropy of diagnostic data. We collaborated for many years. In addition, I was really privileged to work with the father of my daughter’s classmate, Isaac Mayzlin, who was an important mathematician at Moscow University. We developed an neural network algorithm for myocardial infarction.
I had a very long, satisfying role in collaboration with Dr. Walter Pleban, who was the surgeon in charge of the only burn unit in Connecticut. I had been engaged in the nutritional support program with Dr. Pleban for some years because of my work on transthyretin. Unfortunately, the criteria using decrease in serum albumin that was in use was very inadequate for early recognition. Transthyretin is a plasma protein that binds to vitamin A and declines very early in protein malnutrition. A decline in transthyretin results in impairment of methionine metabolism. I also had a longstanding relationship with Prof. Yves Ingenbleek at University Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, in this work. When Stanley Dudrick became the Chairman of Surgery, it was a fortunate circumstance. Stanley was the pioneer in developing intravenous nutrition and was nominated for the Nobel Prize for his work.
A year after Yale University took charge of the Bridgeport Pathology Department, I took a position as Chief of Clinical Chemistry and Blood Bank at the Methodist Hospital of Brooklyn. I had a very good relationship with surgery and medicine, and had superb projects with the residents, but also had excellent high school and college students work on projects. I was 65 years old five years later, and returned to work at Norwalk Hospital in charge of the Blood Bank while the position was recruited. After finishing my work there, I went to Yale University and developed a project with Ronald R. Coifman, the retired Chairman of Mathematics and his graduate student. It lead to the development of a powerful algorithm for interpreting the hemogram that we published. There is a substantial body of research being published of a similar nature, but it is not at all clear whether or how this will be incorporated into the electronic medical record. It reminds me of the support I had at Bridgeport Hospital using a laboratory system designed by Dr. Perry Seamonds that eliminated nonessential examination of peripheral smears by rules criteria. This laboratory system also alleviated the volume of laboratory testing to relieve the burden on the physicians. A different problem I later noticed was that the Hospital Systems that were later introduced had the laboratory, but did not include the Blood Bank! However, as the electronic medical record has evolved it has taken an enormous physician, nursing, and provider time that does not justify a reduction in staff.
After I had been done with my Yale project, I developed a visual problem and stopped driving. I had problems I would later realize. I had had two incidents in a few years that I drove my car off the road because of sleep apnea. I was walking in my neighborhood and had to stop and hold on to a tree for balance. In the case of sleep apnea, it was diagnosed earlier in a sleep apnea study in Brooklyn. I had a study at Yale that brought to my realization that I had thyroid cancer, for which I had thyroidectomy. However, I had diplopia after surgery which disappeared some time later. We moved to Northampton, Massachusetts when our daughter, Naomi and her husband Daniel with grandson Joseph moved, Naomi taking a teaching position at Holyoke Community College, and Daniel working as a neurologist at the VA hospital.
Prior to moving I was contacted by Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN who was building an online medical forum known as Leaders in Pharmaceutical Business Intelligence (LPBI) Group,and I became the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). Over the decade I wrote many articles (1,390) in the Open Access Online Scientific Journal http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.comthat were included in 16 organized e-Books in Medicine. Dr. Lev-Ari’s accomplishment is quite impressive. The e-Books are all available on Amazon.com
I stopped contributing two years ago, but a graduate student had read my work and wanted my academic guidance (in Canada). She finished her thesis and graduated a year ago. It was a privilege to work with her. Since moving to Northampton, we has been in a very good community at Lathrup.
Article ID #273: Live Notes and Conference Coverage in Real Time. COVID19 And The Impact on Cancer Patients Town Hall with Leading Oncologists; April 4, 2020. Published 4/4/2020
This update is the video from the COVID-19 Series 4.
UPDATED 4/08/2020 see below
The Second in a Series of Virtual Town Halls with Leading Oncologist on Cancer Patient Care during COVID-19 Pandemic: What you need to know
The second virtual Town Hall with Leading International Oncologist, discussing the impact that the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak has on cancer care and patient care issues will be held this Saturday April 4, 2020. This Town Hall Series is led by Dr. Roy Herbst and Dr. Hossain Borghaei who will present a panel of experts to discuss issues pertaining to oncology practice as well as addressing physicians and patients concerns surrounding the risk COVID-19 presents to cancer care. Some speakers on the panel represent oncologist from France and Italy, and will give their views of the situation in these countries.
Speakers include:
Roy S. Herbst, MD, PhD, Ensign Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology) and Professor of Pharmacology; Chief of Medical Oncology, Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital; Associate Cancer Center Director for Translational Research, Yale Cancer Center
Hossain Borghaei, DO, MS , Chief of Thoracic Medical Oncology and Director of Lung Cancer Risk Assessment, Fox Chase Cancer Center
Giuseppe Curigliano, MD, PhD, University of Milan and Head of Phase I Division at IEO, European Institute of Oncology
Paolo Ascierto, MD National Tumor Institute Fondazione G. Pascale, Medical oncologist from National Cancer Institute of Naples, Italy
Dr. Jack West from City of Hope talked about telemedicine: Coordination of the patient experience, which used to be face to face now moved to a telemedicine alternative. For example a patient doing well on personalized therapy, many patients are well suited for a telemedicine experience. A benefit for both patient and physician.
Dr. Rohit Kumar: In small cancer hospitals, can be a bit difficult to determine which patient needs to come in and which do not. For outpatients testing for COVID is becoming very pertinent as these tests need to come back faster than it is currently. For inpatients the issue is personal protection equipment. They are starting to reuse masks after sterilization with dry heat. Best to restructure the system of seeing patients and scheduling procedures.
Dr. Christopher Manley: hypoxia was an issue for COVID19 patients but seeing GI symptoms in 5% of patients. Nebulizers have potential to aerosolize. For patients in surgery prep room surgical masks are fine. Ventilating these patients are a challenge as hypoxia a problem. Myocarditis is a problem in some patients. Diffuse encephalopathy and kidney problems are being seen. So Interleukin 6 (IL6) inhibitors are being used to reduce the cytokine storm presented in patients suffering from COVID19.
Dr. Hope Rugo from UCSF: Breast cancer treatment during this pandemic has been challenging, even though they don’t use too much immuno-suppressive drugs. How we decide on timing of therapy and future visits is crucial. For early stage breast cancer, neoadjuvant therapy is being used to delay surgeries. Endocrine therapy is more often being used. In patients that need chemotherapy, they are using growth factor therapy according to current guidelines. Although that growth factor therapy might antagonize some lung problems, there is less need for multiple visits.
For metastatic breast cancer, high risk ER positive are receiving endocrine therapy and using telemedicine for followups. For chemotherapy they are trying to reduce the schedules or frequency it is given. Clinical trials have been put on hold, mostly pharmokinetic studies are hard to carry out unless patients can come in, so as they are limiting patient visits they are putting these type of clinical studies on hold.
Dr. Harriet Kluger: Melanoma community of oncologists gathered together two weeks ago to discuss guidelines and best practices during this pandemic. The discussed that there is a lack of data on immunotherapy long term benefit and don’t know the effectiveness of neoadjuvant therapy. She noted that many patients on BRAF inhibitors like Taflinar (dabrafenib) or Zelboraf (vemurafenib) might get fevers as a side effect from these inhibitors and telling them to just monitor themselves and get tested if they want. Yale has also instituted a practice that, if a patient tests positive for COVID19, Yale wants 24 hours between the next patient visit to limit spread and decontaminate.
Marianne Davies: Blood work is now being done at satellite sites to limit number of in person visits to Yale. Usually they did biopsies to determine resistance to therapy but now relying on liquid biopsies (if insurance isn’t covering it they are working with patient to assist). For mesothelioma they are dropping chemotherapy that is very immunosuppressive and going with maintenance pembrolizumab (Keytruda). It is challenging in that COPD mimics the symptoms of COVID and patients are finding it difficult to get nebulizers at the pharmacy because of shortages; these patients that develop COPD are also worried they will not get the respirators they need because of rationing.
Dr. Barbara Burtness: Head and neck cancer. Dr. Burtness stresses to patients that the survival rate now for HPV positive head and neck is much better and leaves patients with extra information on their individual cancers. She also noted a registry or database that is being formed to track data on COVID in patients undergoing surgery and can be found here at https://globalsurg.org/covidsurg/
About CovidSurg
There is an urgent need to understand the outcomes of COVID-19 infected patients who undergo surgery.
Capturing real-world data and sharing international experience will inform the management of this complex group of patients who undergo surgery throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, improving their clinical care.
CovidSurg has been designed by an international collaborating group of surgeons and anesthetists, with representation from Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Korea, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Dr. Burtness had noted that healthcare care workers are at high risk of COVID exposure during ear nose and throat (ENT) procedures as the coronavirus resides in the upper respiratory tract. As for therapy for head and neck cancers, they are staying away from high dose cisplatin because of the nephrotoxicity seen with high dose cisplatin. An alternative is carboplatin which generally you do not see nephrotoxicity as an adverse event (a weekly carboplatin). Changing or increasing dose schedule (like 6 weeks Keytruda) helps reduce immunologic problems related to immunosupression and patients do not have to come in as often.
Italy and France
Dr. Paolo Ascierto: with braf inhibitors, using in tablet form so patients can take from home. Also they are moving chemo schedules for inpatients so longer dosing schedules. Fever still a side effect from braf inhibitors and they require a swab to be performed to ascertain patient is COVID19 negative. Also seeing pneumonitis as this is an adverse event from checkpoint inhibitors so looking at CT scans and nasal swab to determine if just side effect of I/O drugs or a COVID19 case. He mentioned that their area is now doing okay with resources.
Dr. Guiseppe Curigliano mentioned about the redesign of the Italian health system with spokes and hubs of health care. Spokes are generalized medicine while the hubs represent more specialized centers like CV hubs or cancer hubs. So for instance, if a melanoma patient in a spoke area with COVID cases they will be referred to a hub. He says they are doing better in his area
In the question and answer period, Dr. West mentioned that they are relaxing many HIPAA regulations concerning telemedicine. There is a website on the Centers for Connective Health Policy that shows state by state policy on conducting telemedicine. On immuno oncology therapy, many in the panel had many questions concerning the long term risk to COVID associated with this type of therapy. Fabrice mentioned they try to postpone use of I/O and although Dr. Kluger said there was an idea floating around that PD1/PDL1 inhibitors could be used as a prophylactic agent more data was needed.
Please revisit this page as the recording of this Town Hall will be made available next week.
UPDATED 4/08/2020
Below find theLIVE RECORDING and TAKEAWAYSby the speakers
Town Hall Takeaways
Utilize Telehealth to Its Fullest Benefit
· Patients doing well on targeted therapy or routine surveillance are well suited to telemedicine
· Most patients are amenable to this, as it is more convenient for them and minimizes their exposure
· A patient can speak to multiple specialists with an ease that was not previously possible
· CMS has relaxed some rules to accommodate telehealth, though private insurers have not moved as quickly, and the Center for Connected Health Policy maintains a repository of current state-by-state regulations: https://www.cchpca.org/
Practice Management Strategies
· In the face of PPE shortages, N95 masks can be decontaminated using UV light, hydrogen peroxide, or autoclaving with dry heat; the masks can be returned to the original user until the masks are no longer suitable for use
· For blood work or scans, the use of external satellite facilities should be explored
· Keep pumps outside of the room so nurses can attend to them quickly
· Limit the use of nebulizers, CPAPs, and BiPAPs due to risk of aerosolization
· Caution is urged in the presence of cardiac complications, as ventilated patients may appear to improve, only to suffer severe myocarditis and cardiac arrest following extubation
· When the decision is made to intubate, intubate quickly, as less invasive methods result in aerosolization and increased risks to staff
Study the Lessons of Europe
· The health care system in Italy has been reorganized into “spokes” and “hubs,” with a number of cancer hubs; if there is a cancer patient in a spoke hospital with many COVID patients, this patient may be referred to a hub hospital
· Postpone adjuvant treatments whenever possible
· Oral therapies, which can be managed at home, are preferred over therapies that must be administered in a healthcare setting
· Pneumonitis patients without fevers may be treated with steroids, but nasal swab testing is needed in the presence of concomitant fever
· Any staff who are not needed on site should be working from home, and rotating schedules can be used to keep people healthy
· Devise an annual epidemic control plan now that we have new lessons from COVID
We Must Be Advocates for Our Cancer Patients
· Be proactive with other healthcare providers on behalf of patients with a good prognosis
· Consider writing letters for cancer patients for inclusion into their chart, or addendums on notes, then encourage patients to print these out, or give it to them during their visit
· The potential exists for a patient to be physiologically stable on a ventilator, but intolerant of decannulation; early discussions are necessary to determine reasonable expectations of care
· Be sure to anticipate a second wave of patients, comprised of cancer patients for whom treatments and surgery have been delayed!
Tumor-Specific Learnings
Ø Strategies in Breast Cancer:
· In patients with early-stage disease, promote the use of neoadjuvant therapy where possible to delay the need for surgery
· For patients with metastatic disease in the palliative setting, transition to less frequent chemotherapy dosing if possible
· While growth factors may pose a risk in interstitial lung disease, new guidelines are emerging
· The use of BRAF/MEK inhibitors can cause fevers that are drug-related, and access to an alternate clinic where patients can be assessed is a useful resource
Ø Strategies in Lung Cancer:
· For patients who are stable on an oral, targeted therapy, telehealth check-in is a good option
· For patients who progress on targeted therapies, increased use of liquid biopsies when appropriate can minimize use of bronchoscopy suites and other resources
· For patients on pembrolizumab monotherapy, consider switching to a six-week dosing of 400 mg
· Many lung cancer patients worry about “discrimination” should they develop a COVID infection; it is important to support patients and help manage expectations and concerns
UPDATED 5/11/2020
Townhall on COVID-19 and Cancer Care with Leading Oncologists Series 4
Addressing the Challenges of Cancer Care in the Community
Article ID #272: Broad@15 – In 2004, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard launched with a mission to improve human health. Published on 7/31/2019
WordCloud Image Produced by Adam Tubman
Broad@15 – In 2004, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard launched with a mission to improve human health, Volume 2 (Volume Two: Latest in Genomics Methodologies for Therapeutics: Gene Editing, NGS and BioInformatics, Simulations and the Genome Ontology), Part 1: Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)
Broad@15 – In 2004, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard launched with a mission to improve human health
In 2004, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard launched with a mission to improve human health.
This year marks our 15th anniversary. During that time, biology and medicine have evolved in astonishing ways, and so have we. Our community now includes more than four thousand scientists, software engineers, and more, with collaborations in more than three dozen countries.
We think the amazing pace of scientific progress is a story worth sharing. Beginning in the summer of 2019 and continuing through spring of 2020, we’ll host a series of public talks to trace the evolution of key fields of science and medicine over the last 15 years, and look ahead to how they might continue to evolve in the future.
These engaging discussions will be in place of our regular Midsummer Nights’ Science and Science for All Seasons series, which will return later in 2020.
We hope you’ll join us in person or online! Sign up here to stay up to date!
Broad@15 Talk Series
Topics
The Human Genomic Revolution: Past, Present, and Future
Over 15 years ago, the scientific community celebrated the sequencing of the first human genome. It’s time to ask how this monumental effort has transformed biomedical science, from basic research to the understanding and treatment of disease. Eric Lander, Broad Institute president and founding director and one of the principal leaders of the Human Genome Project, will survey the impact — what we’ve learned, and what lies ahead.
This lecture is presented in memory of Eliana Hechter and is supported by the Eliana Hechter Memorial Fund.
2019 Warren Alpert Foundation Award goes to Four Scientists for Seminal Discoveries in OptoGenetics – Illuminating the Human Brain, Volume 2 (Volume Two: Latest in Genomics Methodologies for Therapeutics: Gene Editing, NGS and BioInformatics, Simulations and the Genome Ontology), Part 1: Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)
2019 Warren Alpert Foundation Award goes to Four Scientists for Seminal Discoveries in OptoGenetics – Illuminating the Human Brain
Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
@AVIVA1950
@phharma_BI
Optogenetics, a revolutionary technique that uses light and genetic modification to control the activity of cells in the brain.
Each year the recipient(s) of the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize are recognized at a scientific symposium hosted by Harvard Medical School.
OCTOBER 3, 2019 – 1:30PM TO 5:30PM
2019 WARREN ALPERT FOUNDATION PRIZE SYMPOSIUM
Optogenetics: Illuminating the Path toward Causal Neuroscience
In honor of Edward Boyden, Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, Gero Miesenböck
for the development of optogenetics as a way to control the activity of specific circuits in the nervous system, to determine their function and ultimately to control them to treat neurological and psychiatric disorders.
Moderated by
Bernardo Sabatini, MD, PhD, Professor of Neurology, HMS
Cells in the brain studied by opto-genetics for treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders
Opening Remarks
George Q. Daley, Dean, Harvard Medical School
Featured Speakers Include:
Edward Boyden, PhD – In honor of and Speaker Y. Eva Tan Professor in Neuro technology MIT Media Lab and McGovern Institute Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
search locally in genomics space: sensitivity to ArchT
In response to yellow light vs red light
Map the molecules, wiring and connections
Karl Deisseroth, MD, PhD – In honor of and Speaker D.H. Chen Professor of Bioengineering and Psychiatry Stanford University Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Channelrhodopsins – Inner workings of – light-dated pores
Diverse modes of designed photon-spike logic, ion selectivity, color tuning – ANION-conducting ChRs
microbial opsin genesMolecular biology on neuroscience
neurol codes of behavior
Identification of feeding-responsive OFC cells
activity-guided optogenetic stimulation: social interaction vs self feeding
Time spent licking – all-optical Read/Write across cortical layers: L2/3 through
Stimulation: Visual stimuli vs Optogenetic stimuli vs Ensemble-specific stimulation: Tuned vs Random
Unstimulated population dynamics – visually-evoked vs stimulated popualtion using Classifier – discrimination behavior
Number stimulated neurons: Laminar population recruitment corresponds to behavior
neuronal activity during task performance: Thirst-motivated behavior
Epigenetics: Optogenetic stimulation restores
Peter Hegemann, PhD – In honor of and Speaker
Hertie Professor for Neuroscience and Head of Experimental Biophysics Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Optogrnetic excitation
channel-rhodopsin (ChR) during MD calculation, intracellulat and extracellular sideCentral gate Inner gate
all-trans
elements of light switch
Improved Na+ over H+ sensitivity
outer pore constriction – K-channels hyper polarization n neuroscience
PAC-K silencing of vertical cardiocytes
Optogenetic Actuators
Gero Miesenböck, FRS – In honor of and Speaker Waynflete Professor of Physiology and Founding Director of the Centre for Neural Circuits and Behavior University of Oxford
Asleep vs Awake electrically active vs silent signals
Dopamine and arousal – OFF/ON of the dopaminergic system
operating the sleep switch
mechanisms: Sleep-Control Neurons current vs membrane potential
What is the biologic process of switch in sleep? it is: A voltage-controlled oxidoreductase OR a
redux-controlled ion channel
Mitochondrial Electron Transport in the matrix membrane: NADPH – The missing link: NADH>NAD+, O2>O2- O2>H2O ADP>ATPm- mitoTimer
redox changes accompany changes in sleep pressure: Sleep-deprived vs Rested
Perturbing the Redox Chemistry of dFB – AOX = PUFAs – 4-OXO~2~nonenal
Flipping the Redox Switch Promotes Sleep
Redox sensing by Hyperkinetics regulates the activity of dFB Neurons
Invited Speakers Include:
Charlotte Arlt, PhD, Speaker Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Neurobiology Harvard Medical School
Virtual reality in decision making: Left or right
GABAergic neuron ChR2+Photostimulation vs no photostimulation
identical decisions in different context
The brain persists using same areas weeks after trained in simple context
Flexible environments
simple context: Brain areas used in flexible decisions
Kimberly Reinhold, PhD, Speaker Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Neurobiology Harvard Medical School
Trial and erroe learning – impaired in Parkinsosn’s
episodic learning: Amnesia impaired
Pathwat in Basal ganglia: Cortex-Striatum optogenetic cue to achieve motor output
Action potential recorded neural activity to disengage the striatum: Output neuron – inhibitory neuronspatially and temporality loss function – mice perform cued reaches despite
striatum does not trigger cues – needed during learning
measuring learning for reinforced learning – non cues reached within a day
inhibiting the Striatum impede learning it is not needed after learning
Behavior space: healhty learning VS Parkinson’s, PTSD and other
Optogenetic manipulation of degenerating or aberrant neural circuits in the human brain carries the promise to
restore vision loss,
Alterations in Gait i.e., Parkinson’s Disease
preserve movement following spinal cord injury, or
dampen down circuits that fuel anxiety, depression and other psychiatric conditions (i.e., addictions).
“The 2019 Warren Alpert Prize for medical research recognizes one of the transformative technical advances of the past decade. The ability to selectively turn on neuronal signals with light exposure has made achievable a more refined analysis of neural connections underlying behavior,” said Joseph Martin, director and chairman of the board of the Warren Alpert Foundation and former dean of Harvard Medical School.
The Warren Alpert Foundation in association with Harvard Medical School
Each year the Warren Alpert Foundation receives between 30 and 50 nominations from scientific leaders worldwide. Prize recipients are selected by the foundation’s scientific advisory board, which is composed of distinguished biomedical scientists and chaired by the dean of Harvard Medical School.
Warren Alpert (1920-2007), a native of Chelsea, Mass., established the prize in 1987 after reading about the development of a vaccine for hepatitis B. The inaugural recipient of the award was Kenneth Murray of the University of Edinburgh, who designed the hepatitis B vaccine. To award subsequent prizes, Alpert asked Daniel Tosteson (1925-2009), then dean of Harvard Medical School, to convene a panel of experts to identify scientists from around the world whose research had a direct impact on the treatment of disease.
Past winners
Last year’s award went to five scientists for transformative discoveries in the fields of genetics, physiology, pulmonology and pharmacology that led to the development of life-altering precision-targeted treatments for the devastating multiorgan disease cystic fibrosis. They were Francis Collins, Paul Negulescu, Bonnie Ramsey, Lap-Chee Tsui, Michael Welsh.
Other past recipients of the Warren Alpert award include:
• James Allison, Lieping Chen, Gordon Freeman, Tasuku Honjo and Arlene Sharpe for discoveries into cancer’s ability to evade immune surveillance that led to the development of a class of cancer immunotherapies.
• Rodolphe Barrangou, Emmanuelle Charpentier, Jennifer Doudna, Philippe Horvath and Virginijus Siksnys for CRISPR-related discoveries.
• Tu Youyou, who went on to receive the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with two others, and Ruth and Victor for their pioneering discoveries in the chemistry and parasitology of malaria and the translation of that work into the development of drug therapies and an antimalarial vaccine.
• Oleh Hornykiewicz, Roger Nicol, and Solomon Snyder for research into neurotransmission and neurodegeneration.
• Alain Carpentier for innovations in bioengineering.
• Harald zur Hausen and Lutz Gissmann for work on the human papillomavirus (HPV) and its role in cervical cancer. Zur Hausen and others were honored with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2008.
The honorees will share a $500,000 prize and will be recognized at a daylong symposium on Oct. 3 at Harvard Medical School.
The 2019 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize recipients are:
• Edward Boyden, the Y. Eva Tan Professor in Neurotechnology at MIT, associate professor of media arts and sciences at the MIT Media Lab and an investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, for his insight in leveraging natural biomolecules for the manipulation and understanding of neuronal and brain function, which established and deployed the tools needed for optogenetics.
• Karl Deisseroth, the D.H. Chen Professor of Bioengineering and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, for establishing the modern field of optogenetics, for rendering the technique an invaluable tool for biological discovery, and for discovering along with Peter Hegemann the key principles of light-sensitive channel structure and function.
• Peter Hegemann, the Hertie professor of Neuroscience at Humboldt University of Berlin, for his study of light-sensitive molecular channels in single-cell organisms—the key proteins that make optogenetic manipulation possible—and discovering along with Karl Deisseroth the key principles of light-sensitive channel structure and function.
• Gero Miesenböck, the Waynflete Professor of Physiology and director of the Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, for the first demonstrations of optogenetic control of neural activity and animal behavior and for discoveries proving the utility of optogenetics for neurobiological research
“The discoveries made by this year’s four honorees have fundamentally changed the landscape of neuroscience,” said George Q. Daley, dean of Harvard Medical School. “Their work has enabled scientists to see, understand and manipulate neurons, providing the foundation for understanding the ultimate enigma—the human brain.”
The Warren Alpert Foundation Prize recognizes the work of scientists throughout the world. To date, the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize has awarded nearly $5 million to 69 scientists. Since the award’s inception in 1987, 10 honorees have gone on to receive a Nobel Prize.
Ed Boyden receives 2019 Warren Alpert Prize – MIT McGovern Institute
Ed Boyden holds the titles of
Investigator, McGovern Institute;
Y. Eva Tan Professor in Neurotechnology at MIT;
Leader, Synthetic Neurobiology Group, Media Lab;
Associate Professor, Biological Engineering, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Media Lab;
Co-Director, MIT Center for Neurobiological Engineering;
Member, MIT Center for Environmental Health Sciences,
Member Computational and Systems Biology Initiative, and Koch Institute.
“It is truly an honor to be included among the extremely distinguished list of winners of the Alpert Award,” says Boyden, the Y. Eva Tan Professor in Neurotechnology at the McGovern Institute, MIT. “To me personally, it is exciting to see the relatively new field of neurotechnology recognized. The brain implements our thoughts and feelings. It makes us who we are. This mysteries and challenge requires new technologies to make the brain understandable and repairable. It is a great honor that our technology of optogenetics is being thus recognized.”
While they were students, Boyden, and fellow awardee Karl Deisseroth, brainstormed about how microbial opsins could be used to mediate optical control of neural activity. In mid-2004, the pair collaborated to show that microbial opsins can be used to optically control neural activity.
Upon launching his lab at MIT, Boyden’s team developed the
“The discoveries made by this year’s four honorees have fundamentally changed the landscape of neuroscience,” said George Q. Daley, dean of Harvard Medical School. “Their work has enabled scientists to see, understand and manipulate neurons, providing the foundation for understanding the ultimate enigma—the human brain.”
Beyond optogenetics, Boyden has
pioneered transformative technologies that image, record, and manipulate
complex systems, including expansion microscopy, robotic patch clamping, and even shrinking objects to the nanoscale.
He was elected this year to the ranks of the National Academy of Sciences, and selected as
an HHMI Investigator.
Boyden has received numerous awards for this work, including the
Featuring Computational and Systems Biology Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Sloan Kettering Institute (SKI), The Dana Pe’er Lab
Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Article ID #270: Featuring Computational and Systems Biology Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Sloan Kettering Institute (SKI), The Dana Pe’er Lab. Published on 6/16/2019
WordCloud Image Produced by Adam Tubman
4.2.2 Featuring Computational and Systems Biology Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Sloan Kettering Institute (SKI), The Dana Pe’er Lab, Volume 2 (Volume Two: Latest in Genomics Methodologies for Therapeutics: Gene Editing, NGS and BioInformatics, Simulations and the Genome Ontology), Part 4: Single Cell Genomics
A lecture by Dana Pe’er is included, below in the eProceedings which I generated in Real Time on 6/14/2019 @MIT
eProceeding 2019 Koch Institute Symposium – 18th Annual Cancer Research Symposium – Machine Learning and Cancer, June 14, 2019, 8:00 AM-5:00 PM ET MIT Kresge Auditorium, 48 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA
The Pe’er lab combines single cell technologies, genomic datasets and machine learning algorithms to address fundamental questions in biomedical science. Empowered by recent breakthrough technologies like massive parallel single cell RNA-sequencing, we ask questions such as: How do multi-cellular organisms develop from a single cell, resulting in the vast diversity of progenitor and terminal cell types? How does a cell’s regulatory circuit control the dynamics of signal processing and how do these circuits rewire over the course of development? How does an ensemble of cells function together to execute a multi-cellular response, such as an immune response to pathogen or cancer? We will also address more medically oriented questions such as: How do regulatory circuits go awry in disease? What is the consequence of intra-tumor heterogeneity? Can we characterize the tumor immune eco-system to gain a better understanding of when or why immunotherapy works or does not work? A key goal is to use this characterization of the tumor immune eco-system to personalize immunotherapy.
Dana Pe’er, PhD
Chair, Computational and Systems Biology Program, SKI; Scientific Director, Metastasis & Tumor Ecosystems Center
Research Focus
Computational Biologist Dana Pe’er combines single cell technologies, genomic datasets and machine learning techniques to address fundamental questions addressing regulatory cell circuits, cellular development, tumor immune eco-system, genotype to phenotype relations and precision medicine.
Computational biologists combine findings in biology with computer algorithms and databases to conduct biological research on powerful computers, using sophisticated software — so-called “dry” laboratories — in ways that complement and strengthen traditional laboratory and clinical research. The aim is to build computer models that simulate biological processes from the molecular level up to the organism as a whole and to use these models to make useful predictions.
Computational biology can help interpret detailed molecular profiles of cancerous and noncancerous cells, molecular response profiles of therapeutic agents, and a person’s genetic profile to assist in the development of better diagnostics and prognostics, as well as improved therapies. Intelligent use of computational methods using detailed molecular and genomic data is expected to reduce the trial and error of drug development and possibly lead to shorter, more accurate clinical trials.
2019 Wolf Prize in Medicine to Dr. Jeffrey Friedman @RockefellerUniv for Discovery of the Satiety Protein Hormone, Leptin which Regulates the Sensation of Hunger
Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Article ID #269: 2019 Wolf Prize in Medicine to Dr. Jeffrey Friedman @RockefellerUniv for Discovery of the Satiety Protein Hormone, Leptin which Regulates the Sensation of Hunger. Published on 6/10/2019
WordCloud Image Produced by Adam Tubman
Medicine: The satiety hormone
The prize in Medicine will be awarded to Jeffrey Friedman from Rockefeller University in New York, for discovering the hormone leptin, which regulates the sensation of hunger.
Friedman (65) grew up in New York and graduated from medical school at the early age of 22. Later on, he fell in love with research, acquired his PhD in Molecular Genetics, and received a faculty position at Rockefeller. He was interested in understanding the factors that contribute to obesity, and studied a strain of mice with a mutation in a specific gene that made the mice fatter than regular mice. Friedman wanted to understand how a change in just one gene could lead to such an extreme transition, and after eight years of research using the most advanced genetic tools of the time, he identified the gene ob, and later, its product – a protein hormone he termed leptin. He found that leptin, secreted by fat cells into the blood, affects the brain. Under fat shortage leptin levels drop – leading to an increased appetite; while high levels of leptin signal the presence of excess fat and lead to a sensation of fullness, or satiety. Therefore, in certain situations of obesity, leptin treatment may assist in reducing appetite and facilitating weight loss.
Friedman’s studies paved the way for a fuller understanding of the system that regulates hunger and satiety, which has led to the development of new drugs and treatment.
A hormone that revealed the mechanism of hunger regulation and served to develop treatments for obesity. Jeffrey Friedman | Photograph: Wolf Foundation
Jeffrey M. Friedman to receive the 2019 Wolf Prize in Medicine
January 16, 2019
Jeffrey M. Friedman
Jeffrey M. Friedman, Marilyn M. Simpson Professor and head of Rockefeller’s Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, has been named the recipient of the 2019 Wolf Prize in Medicine. He is being recognized for his discovery of leptin, a hormone secreted by fat cells that modulates food intake and energy expenditure.
Friedman’s 1994 discovery of leptin, and of its receptor in the brain encoded by the obese gene, shed new light on the pathogenesis of obesity. He and his colleagues have since shown that leptin acts on sets of neurons in brain centers that regulate food intake and energy expenditure, and has powerful effects on reproduction, metabolism, other endocrine systems, and immune function. Defects in the leptin gene are associated with severe obesity in animals and humans.
“Jeff’s research has transformed our understanding of obesity. The fact that loss of a single hormone made by fat cells has such a profound effect on our drive to consume calories establishes a biological basis for obesity that is clearly not a simple failure of will-power,” says Rockefeller President Richard P. Lifton. “His research has opened a new field with great potential for advancing health and the understanding of the biological basis of behavior. This prestigious prize is richly deserved.”
Since 1978, the Wolf Foundation in Israel has awarded annual prizes in the arts and sciences, which are presented by the President of Israel. In addition to Friedman’s prize for Medicine, this year’s Wolf Prize recipients include an architect, a professor of agriculture and resource economics, two chemists, and a mathematician. The awardees will be honored at a Jerusalem ceremony led by the Israeli president, Reuven Rivlin, in May.
Previous Rockefeller recipients of the Wolf Prize in Medicine include Maclyn McCarty in 1990 and Jeffrey V. Ravetch in 2015. Three Rockefeller faculty have been recipients of the Wolf Prize in Physics: Mitchell Feigenbaum and Albert Libchaber in 1986 and George Uhlenbeck in 1979.
Article ID #268: Real Time Coverage @BIOConvention #BIO2019: Keynote: Siddhartha Mukherjee, Oncologist and Pulitzer Author; June 4 9AM Philadelphia PA. Published on 6/4/2019
WordCloud Image Produced by Adam Tubman
Hematologist and oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee was born in New Delhi, India. He holds a BS in biology from Stanford University, a DPhil in immunology from Oxford University (where he was a Rhodes Scholar), and an MD from Harvard Medical School. He completed his internal medicine residency and an oncology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Murkherjee is an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, artist Sarah Sze, and their two daughters. His Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, tells the story of cancer from its first description in an ancient Egyptian scroll to the gleaming laboratories of modern research institutions. A three-part documentary series based on the book, directed by Barak Goodman and executive produced by Ken Burns, debuts on PBS stations March 30 and continues on March 31 and April 1. The film interweaves a sweeping historical narrative with intimate stories about contemporary patients and an investigation into the latest scientific breakthroughs. He has also written the award winning book “The Gene: An Intimate History” and is Founder of Vor Biopharma, who had just published on their CD33 engineered hematopoetic stem cells as an immunooncology therapy VOR33.
Hon. James C. Greenwood- former Congressional representative and Founder CEO of BIO: moderator
Greenwood: Never have the threats from DC to innovation in the biotech field been so great. Focused on some great recent innovations and successes in gene therapy. Although the cost high, father of two LMR retinopathy patients said if his sons had to go through a lifetime of constant care it would cost much more than the gene therapy from Spark cost. Politicians need to realize that medicines that completely cure diseases are worth much more. They should meet in the middle with respect to developing a new payer model that will not hurt innovation.
Dr. Mukherjee: He go into oncology from a virology PhD because he liked to understand the human aspect
of disease. As an oncologist he gets to interact more closely with patients. The oncology horizon is always changing. He likened his view of oncology and cancer as a pyramid with prevention the base, then early detection then therapy at top.
We haven’t found preventable human carcinogens, none that is highly proven causal
This will be the next challenge for cancer researchers, to figure out why we can’t identify these preventable carcinogens.
Hematologist and oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee was born in New Delhi, India. He holds a BS in biology from Stanford University, a DPhil in immunology from Oxford University (where he was a Rhodes Scholar), and an MD from Harvard Medical School. He completed his internal medicine residency and an oncology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Murkherjee is an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University Medical Center. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, artist Sarah Sze, and their two daughters. His Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, tells the story of cancer from its first description in an ancient Egyptian scroll to the gleaming laboratories of modern research institutions. A three-part documentary series based on the book, directed by Barak Goodman and executive produced by Ken Burns, debuts on PBS stations March 30 and continues on March 31 and April 1. The film interweaves a sweeping historical narrative with intimate stories about contemporary patients and an investigation into the latest scientific breakthroughs. He has also written the award winning book “The Gene: An Intimate History” and is Founder of Vor Biopharma, who had just published on their CD33 engineered hematopoetic stem cells as an immunooncology therapy VOR33.
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