AAA award winners

Abstract

The Charles Judson Herrick Award was established in 1962 to recognize young investigators who make important contributions to the field of comparative neurology, and have demonstrated a remarkable promise of future accomplishment. This award is named in honor of C.J. Herrick, the great American comparative neuroanatomist and longtime editor of the Journal of Comparative Neurology. The recipient of the 2004 Charles Judson Herrick Award is Linda J. Richards. Dr. Richards presented a lecture entitled “Mechanisms of Axon Guidance in the Development of the Corpus Callosum” on Sunday, April 18, 2004, at the Annual Meeting of the AAA at Experimental Biology 2004. Dr. Richards received her Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia, in 1990. She received her Ph.D. degree from the same institute in 1995. Her research advisor was Dr. Perry F. Bartlett. From 1994 to 1997 she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in the laboratory of Dr. Dennis O'Leary. She became an assistant professor of Anatomy in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology at the University of Maryland in Baltimore in 1997, and was promoted to the rank of associate professor with tenure at Maryland in 2002. Dr. Richards' research is in the rapidly expanding field of developmental neurobiology. During her graduate study days, she made important observations on the effects of the leukemia inhibitory factor on mature dorsal root ganglion cells. She discovered that this factor promotes neuronal differentiation in different cell lineages in the developing spinal cord. She also reported that astrocyte-like cell lines promote differentiation of neurons. These early studies have important implications for potential experimental methods to treat certain types of degenerative neuronal diseases. Her postdoctoral experience has focused heavy on the development of the cortex and the corpus callosum. She has described, in elegant detail, the correlated activity of cortical neuron growth toward the midline of the hemisphere, and the simultaneous development of astrocytes to form a framework in which these developing cortical neurons can traverse the developing corpus callosum. The combination of cortical neuron efferent cells and their ability to communicate with the opposite hemisphere by way of the corpus callosum is an essential element in the successful function of a normal brain. A wide range of disorders are seen in individuals with poor development or agenesis of the corpus callosum. Dr. Richard's work has important implications for increasing our understanding of a wide range of developmental defects. Dr. Richards has been remarkably productive as a young neurobiologist. She has published 28 peer-reviewed articles in various journals, including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Neuroscience Research, Neuron, Development, Nature, Experimental Eye Research, Cerebral Cortex, and Journal of Comparative Neurology. Her research is currently supported by three NIH grants for studies in which she is the principal investigator, and by one consortium award. She has also been the recipient of a grant from the March of Dimes Association. As a graduate student, she received a number of special awards and recognitions, including the Australian Postgraduate Research Award, the Australian Neuroscience Society Annual Conference Student Poster Prize, the Edith Moffat Travel Scholarship, and the Queen Elizabeth II Trust for Young Australians Award for Special Projects Recognition. During her postdoctoral period (1994–1997) she was a Lucille P. Markey Fellow at the Salk Institute. In addition to her outstanding publication record and her stewardship of major NIH grants, Dr. Richards has also participated in national and international events. She regularly presents papers at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, and has been invited to lecture at the American Cell Biology Society Meeting, the Chicago Medical School, Rutgers University, and a Gordon conference on neural development. At the international level, Dr. Richards has been invited to present the results of her research program in Australia, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and France. It should be noted that she has spoken in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States at a number of different institutions, including the University College of London, Kings College, University of Edinburgh, John Curtin School of Medical Research, and Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. In addition to her very energetic research program, Dr. Richards has been deeply involved in service and teaching activities at the University of Maryland. She serves or has served on a number of committees involved with topics as diverse as faculty searches, the graduate student program, the neuroscience seminar committee, the curriculum committee, and the School of Medicine Faculty Council. This is an extraordinary level of service for an individual who is so deeply involved in research. In addition, Dr. Richards is heavy involved in teaching medical students and graduate students. She teaches a Structure and Development course (in which she is a laboratory demonstrator for embryology, gross anatomy, and histology) and a Medical Neuroscience course. She also teaches Developmental and Neuroanatomical Methods to graduate students. Dr. Richards is also deeply involved in educating graduate students both as a member of the Ph.D. Thesis Committee and as a research advisor for doctoral students. In addition to her research service and teaching, a further measure of her significant accomplishments in comparative neurology is the fact that she has been invited to serve as an external reviewer for 11 well known neuroscience or developmental journals, including Brain Research, Developmental Biology, Journal of Neuroscience, Journal of Comparative Neurology, Neuron, and Neuroscience. She has also been invited by the NIH to serve on a special emphasis research panel. Dr. Richards is an outstanding young neuroscientist who early in her career has shown significant accomplishments and clearly demonstrates sufficient promise of future contributions. She is a very worthy recipient of the 2004 Charles Judson Herrick Award. The R.R. Bensley Award recognizes distinguished contributions to the advancement of anatomy through discovery, ingenuity, and publication in the field of cell biology. The recipient of the Bensley Award for 2004 is Dr. Carol C. Gregorio. Dr. Gregorio presented a lecture entitled “How Do Cardiac Myocytes Regulate the Lengths of the Actin-Containing Thin Filaments?” on Tuesday, April 20, 2004, at the Annual Meeting of the AAA at Experimental Biology 2004. Dr. Gregorio received her B.A. (1983) and M.A. (1986) degrees from the State University of New York at Buffalo. During portions of her graduate training she was a graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Biological Sciences at SUNY–Buffalo. Dr. Gregorio went on to receive her Ph.D. degree in 1991 in the field of molecular immunology from the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York. During her doctoral training experience she was a graduate research and teaching assistant in the Department of Molecular Immunology at Roswell Park. Dr. E. Repasky was the major professor for her graduate degree. From 1992 to 1996 she was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Cell Biology at the Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, where she worked for Dr. Velia M. Fowler. During her last year at Scripps she was a senior research associate. In 1996 Dr. Gregorio joined the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy at the University of Arizona as an assistant professor. Because of her research interest, she received a joint appointment to the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Arizona in 1997, an appointment she retains at the present time. Dr. Gregorio was promoted to associate professor at the University of Arizona in 2002. Dr. Gregorio's research interest and activity are concerned primarily with the structure and function of skeletal muscle—specifically with the organization of sarcomeres and other cytoskeletal components of striated muscle. During her postdoctoral training at Scripps, she demonstrated that tropomodulin regulates actin filament length in the sarcomere, by injecting antibodies into the muscle against tropomodulin and describing the resulting unregulated growth of the actin filament. This new observation was published in Nature, and has been heavily cited over the intervening years. She has continued this interest in the regulation of sarcomere formation. In addition, Dr. Gregorio has a significant interest in the molecule titin, which is located within the sarcomere. Although titin is quite difficult to work with, Dr. Gregorio has characterized the distinct domains of this molecule and its binding partners. She has demonstrated that this molecule is essential for maintaining the thin filament structure within the sarcomere. As part of her ongoing research program, Dr. Gregorio has also published major review articles on the structure and function of the sarcomere that have been cited numerous times. In this respect she is not only making original contributions to her field, but is also providing insightful articles that are widely used by a much broader audience. As a young scientist, Dr. Gregorio has been enormously productive. She has published over 45 articles in such highly respected peer-reviewed publications as Experimental Neurology, Journal of Interferon on Research, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Cell Biology, Journal of Molecular Biology, Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Developmental Dynamics, and Journal of Structure Biology. This broad range of journals demonstrates not only the range of Dr. Gregorio's research expertise, but also that her results are applicable to a variety of fields. During her postdoctoral experience, Dr. Gregorio received a National Research Service Award Postdoctoral Fellowship from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (1992–1995). She was the recipient of a senior postdoctoral fellowship (1995–1996) from the American Heart Association. She also received a Dean's Research Council Grant and a Mortar Board Citation Award for Distinguished Service, both from the University of Arizona. Since 1997, Dr. Gregorio's research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health. She has received a First Award and a Human Frontier Science Program Award. She was the Co-Principal Investigator on an NIH Program Project Grant, and has served on a number of study sections and special ad hoc review committees for the NIH. Dr. Gregorio is a member of the American Heart Association Molecular Genetics Study Section and the American Heart Association Basic Cell and Molecular Biology 1 Study Section. She also serves as a member of the editorial board of Developmental Dynamics. Dr. Gregorio's research successes have been widely recognized by her scientific peers. Her contributions to the field of molecular and cell biology, and especially to our understanding of muscle structure and function, are significant. Overall, her scientific contributions have provided us with a number of insights into how muscles are built and how they work. Dr. Gregorio is a very worthy recipient of the 2004 R.R. Bensley Award. The Harland Winfield Mossman Award recognizes a young investigator who has made important contributions to the field of developmental biology and has demonstrated a remarkable promise of future accomplishments. The award is named in honor of H.W. Mossman, the well-known and highly regarded American embryologist and longtime member of the AAA. The Mossman Award recipient for 2004 is Olivier Pourquié. Dr. Pourquié presented a talk entitled “Vertebrate Somitogenesis: A Paradigm for Animal Segmentation?” on Monday, April 19, 2004, at the Annual Meeting of the AAA at Experimental Biology 2004. Dr. Pourquié received his engineering degree from the Institut National Agronomique, Paris-Grignon, France, in 1998. He received his DEA degree, also in 1998, from the Institut Pasteur-Université Paris VII. He went on to receive his Ph.D. degree in 1992 in developmental neuroscience from the Institut d'Embryologie CNRS-Collège de France. His Ph.D. research was conducted in the laboratory of Professor Nicole Le Douarin. From 1992 to 1996 he held a postdoctoral position in developmental biology at the Institut d'Embryologie, also under Professor Le Douarin. Dr. Pourquié became laboratory head of the Developmental Biology Institute of Marseille in France in 1996, and served in this position until 2002. During that time he put together an outstanding research team. In 2002 he became an associate investigator at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri, and an associate professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at Kansas University Medical School. Dr. Pourquié's research efforts are in the broad area of developmental biology, and are specifically concerned with the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate the development of somites in the embryo and the activity of the so-called “segmentation clock.” During his stay in Marseille, Dr. Pourquié and his research group discovered chick genes that control the segmentation clock, which in turn controls segmentation and the development of somites. This discovery is of enormous importance for determining how the development of somites is regulated. In addition, his group reported that there were similar gene expression patterns in the mouse as related to somite formation. After he moved to the Stowers Institute, Dr. Pourquié continued this line of investigation. His more recent studies have been concerned with gene expression control on both negative and positive influence on somite formation. Since somites appear early in development, and their patterns of segmentation and rostrocaudal patterns appear early in development, the discovery of how these patterns are controlled has strong implications for elucidating a wide range of defects in human embryos. Dr. Pourquié has published over 40 papers in well known and highly respected peer-reviewed journals, including Developmental Cell, Nature, Science, Development, Developmental Biology, International Reviews of Cytology, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In addition, he has published two books (one in 1995 and one in 2001, both in French) on developmental biology. Dr. Pourquié's standing in the professional community is exemplified by a number of factors. First, he is an editor for Developmental Biology and Anatomy and Embryology, and is on the editorial advisory board of several developmental journals. He is on the Scientific Advisory Board of the French Muscular Dystrophy Association and the ARC Cancer Research Association. He also served as a member of the Advisory Board of the ACI Committee of the French Ministry of Research. He also serves on the scientific advisory boards of two commercial companies, has organized or co-organized six international meetings, and has served as an instructor or lecturer in over 20 courses in his area of professional expertise. His honors include a bronze medal from the CNRS, the Gulbenkian Foundation Science Prize, and being elected president of the French Society for Developmental Biology. He was elected to EMBO in 2002, and elected as co-chair of the Chicken Genome Consortium. Dr. Pourquié's scientific achievements are widely recognized. He has served on the Human Frontier's Science Program and collaborates with colleagues around the United States, as well as in the United Kingdom and Germany. His research is supported by funds from the National Institutes of Health and the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Dr. Pourquié is an outstanding young investigator who has made significant and important contributions to his field, and shows a clear promise for future success. He is a most worthy recipient of the 2004 Harland Winfield Mossman Award.