Neurex Young Investigator Award Winner

Abstract

ANNOUNCEMENTNeurex Young Investigator Award WinnerPublished Online:01 Feb 1999https://doi.org/10.1152/ajprenal.1999.276.2.F329MoreSectionsPDF (28 KB)Download PDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesGet permissionsTrack citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInEmail Download figureDownload PowerPointThe Renal Section of the American Physiological Society is pleased to announce the 1999 recipient of the Neurex Young Investigator Award for Excellence in Renal Physiology: Dr. Michael J. Caplan, Professor of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale University School of Medicine. The purpose of this award is to recognize an outstanding young investigator working in any area of renal physiology or hypertension. Dr. Caplan will present his keynote lecture, entitled “Membrane Trafficking and the Regulation of Ion Transport Proteins,” during a mini-symposium at the Experimental Biology ’99 meeting in Washington, DC, April 17–21, 1999. Dr. Caplan will receive his Neurex Young Investigator Award during the Renal Dinner on April 20. This award is presented annually at the Experimental Biology meeting and is made possible by the generous support of the Neurex Corporation, Menlo Park, CA. Dr. Caplan received his B.A. degree in biology in 1980 from Harvard College and his M.D./Ph.D. degree in 1987 from Yale University School of Medicine. He has remained at Yale ever since, rising progressively from Fellow to Assistant Professor in 1988, to Associate Professor in 1993, and to Professor in 1998. Dr. Caplan is a recipient of the APS 1998 Henry Pickering Bowditch Award Lectureship and the American Society of Nephrology/American Heart Association’s 1998 Young Investigator Award. He has published 36 manuscripts and written 26 reviews or book chapters. The cell surface membranes of epithelial cells are divided into two distinct domains characterized by distinct protein compositions, reflecting their different roles in vectorial solute transport. Dr. Caplan is interested in the molecular signals and cellular machinery involved in generating this polarity. His studies make use of two families of transport proteins, each of whose members are sorted to different surfaces despite extensive homology. The Na-K-ATPase and the H-K-ATPase are closely related at the structural and functional levels but are targeted differently. Similarly, transport systems involved in neurotransmitter re-uptake are highly homologous but differentially sorted. Dr. Caplan is generating molecular chimeras composed of complementary portions of related pumps and transporters and expressing them by transfection in polarized epithelial cells. This approach allows him to identify segments of these molecules which contribute to their sorting behaviors as well as to their physiological properties. Dr. Caplan’s targeting studies have led to the generation of a transgenic mouse that is unable to inactivate H-K-ATPase function and consequently hypersecretes gastric acid. These mice develop gastritis and gastric ulcerations with histological features that are essentially identical to those found in human disease. Recent studies suggest that the same signals that modulate gastric acid secretion may also regulate active potassium reabsorption in the renal collecting duct. The APS Renal Section’s Neurex Young Investigator Award Committee, a subcommittee of the Renal Section Steering Committee, included Douglas Eaton (Renal Section Sage), Roger O’Neil (Renal Section past Chair), Jeff Sands (Renal Section Treasurer and Chairman-Elect), and Jurgen Schnermann (Renal Section Program Committee Chair). The Renal Section wishes to express its sincere appreciation to the Neurex Corporation for their generous support of biomedical education.This article has no references to display. Previous Back to Top FiguresReferencesRelatedInformation More from this issue > Volume 276Issue 2February 1999Pages F329-F329 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 1999 the American Physiological Societyhttps://doi.org/10.1152/ajprenal.1999.276.2.F329PubMed29591646History Published online 1 February 1999 Published in print 1 February 1999 PDF download Metrics Downloaded 52 times