The two inventors of mechanical and animal-derived prosthetic heart valves, Albert Starr of the Providence Health System in Portland, OR, and Alain Carpentier of H?pital Europeen Georges Pompidou in Paris, will share the Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research for their contributions to open-heart surgery.
This year's Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service will go to Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, for his work on a government program to treat HIV/AIDS in the developing world, and a nationwide biodefense strategy in the US.
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In the early 1960s and 70s, immunologists investigating T and B cell function isolated a spleen-derived suspension of "accessory cells" that appeared to be necessary to activate immune cells in vitro. Although some speculated that these cells were macrophages, no one knew which component of the pool was responsible for initiating the reaction. As a postdoc in the lab of Zanvil Cohn, an expert on macrophages, Steinman decided to find out. "We thought [activation] was the key thing," Steinman said in a recent interview.
Upon culturing the pool of splenic cells, he noticed a rare cell type that on first glance resembled a macrophage. Unlike macrophages, however, these star-shaped cells lacked lysosomal compartments and were "sending out processes and probing their environment," Steinman said. In 1973, he published the first characterization of what he called dendritic cells, soon after demonstrating that they were the crucial players in the accessory cell mix, with a potency at least 100 times greater than that of the other splenic cells.
Because dendritic cells were rare and difficult to isolate, researchers initially overlooked the significance of Steinman's discovery. "It took many years of painstaking experimentation to convince the leaders of immunology that dendritic cells were really important," said Joseph Goldstein, chair of the Lasker Awards selection committee.
Together with Gerold Schuler, Steinman showed that Langerhans cells, which maneuver throughout the uppermost layer of the skin, were actually young dendritic cells. Later work demonstrated that these immature cells picked up foreign antigen from the body's periphery, then travelled to the lymph nodes where, as mature dendritic cells, they spurred immune cells into action. The differentiation of dendritic cells would come to define "the pivotal control point for the immune response," Steinman said.
Steinman's work laid the foundation for current research on the use of dendritic cells as therapeutic vaccines for cancer and HIV. "I was delighted that dendritic cells were selected for the Lasker," said Steinman.
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The award to Starr and Carpentier will honor their invention of prosthetic heart valves. In 1958, Starr and the late Lowell Edwards started working on the first mechanical heart valve, made out of silicon and hard Teflon. The device, which Starr implanted in the first patient two years later, revolutionized cardiology. "Before his prosthetic, patients with valvular disease would die," said Carpentier.
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But the synthetic material from which the valves were made caused blood clots, requiring patients who got them to take blood thinners for the rest of their lives. Carpentier, a surgical resident in Paris at the time, believed he could solve the problem by transplanting valves from pig hearts, on which clots would not form. He knew, however, that the foreign tissue would be rejected by the immune system. To the dismay of his surgical mentor, he enrolled in a PhD program at the University of Paris to find a chemical treatment that would make the animal tissue tolerable to humans. He soon discovered that glutaraldehyde did the trick, and in 1968, he and a colleague implanted the first glutaraldehyde-treated valve in a patient.
When Starr learned of the advance, he offered to help Carpentier commercialize the device through the company Edwards had created to manufacture his and Starr's mechanical valves. Thus, two would-be competitors became collaborators. Today more than 300,000 patients worldwide receive valve replacements annually, and Starr and Carpentier remain close friends. Carpentier went on to develop surgical methods to repair rather than replace heart valves. "He not only wrote the book on valve repair," said Starr of Carpentier, "he developed the alphabet that made up the words."
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Anthony Fauci, the director of the, NIAID will receive the award for his work orchestrating the $15 billion President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program, which supports 114 countries in creating prevention, treatment and care plans for the disease. Fauci recognized HIV as major public health crises when it first emerged in the 1980s. He re-focused his laboratory's efforts to study the molecular mechanism of HIV infection, and was the 10th most-cited HIV/AIDS researcher between 1996 and 2006.
"Because of his scientific credibility, and his unflappable confident manner," said Goldstein, "he has been able to convince members of the legislature and the government, who are not that enthusiastic about science," to devote resources to public health issues.
The award also honors Fauci's development of Project Bioshield, a cohesive national strategy for responding to the threat of bioterrorism in the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001. "It's humbling," said Fauci "to be recognized for something that I feel privileged and honored to have been a part of." Fauci's influence as a scientist is commensurate with his influence as an advisor on science to the government, as well to the public. "I do wear many hats," said Fauci, "but that just makes each individual hat all the more exciting."
The awards, which carry an honorarium of $150,000 each, will be presented during a luncheon ceremony at the Pierre Hotel in New York City on Friday, September 28.
Edyta Zielinska
mail@the-scientist.com
Andrea Gawrylewski contributed reporting to this article.
Links within this article:
Ralph Steinman
http://www.rockefeller.edu/research/abstract.php?id=150
Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation
http://www.laskerfoundation.org
A.S. Fauci, "First Person: Anthony Fauci," The Scientist, May 5, 2003.
http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/13734/
R.M. Steinman and Z.A. Cohn, "Identification of a novel cell type in peripheral lymphoid organs of mice. I. Morphology, quantitation, tissue distribution," J Exp Med, May 1, 1973.
http://www.the-scientist.com/pubmed/4573839
R.M. Steinman and M.D. Witmer, "Lymphoid dendritic cells are potent stimulators of the primary mixed leukocyte reaction in mice," PNAS, October, 1978.
http://www.the-scientist.com/pubmed/154105
Gerold Schuler
http://www.cancerresearch.org/cvc2002/gerold_schuler.html
G. Schuler and R.M. Steinman, "Murine epidermal Langerhans cells mature into potent immunostimulatory dendritic cells in vitro." J Exp Med, 161:526-46, 1985
http://www.the-scientist.com/pubmed/3871837
K Inaba et. al., "Dendritic cells as antigen-presenting cells in vivo," Int Rev Immunol, 6(2-3):197-206, 1990.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez
I. Mellman, "Where Next for Cancer Immunotherapy," The Scientist, Jan, 2006.
http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/18859
K. Travis, "Deciphering immunology's dirty secret," The Scientist, January 1, 2007.
http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/39377
Edwards Lifesciences
http://www.edwards.com
Pod-cast with Fauci on HIV research, The Scientist, September 5 2007.
http://www.the-scientist.com/podcasts/theweek/2007/09/05/
President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
http://www.pepfar.gov/
Project Bioshield
http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/bioshield/
[Comment posted 2007-09-20 10:35:59]
Particularly, oversight is needed:
ﾷ Bush?s USAID appointee Administrator Randall Tobias, the reign of fraudulent grants to Northrop Grumman/CEO Ron Sugar prior to the forced resignation resulting from DC Madam Scandal of May, 2007.
ﾷ And the Bruenn v. Northrop Grumman Appeal to the US Supreme Court tie in... By reading on, you'll see that the associated Tobias grant fraud and the many abuses has hurt me greatly.
Hoping you will run the story and I await your early reply.
Sincerely,
Corruption Gone Wild
Private contracts are handed out by the federal government in droves these days. The industrial company Northrop Grumman, which manufactures the stealth bomber, has been granted a number of lucrative contracts despite past lawsuits filed against the company.
Named the company of the year by Forbes in 2002, and ranked number 67 on Forbes 2006 Fortune 500 list, the Los Angeles based Northrop is the third largest defense contractor in the U.S.
Bruenn v. Northrop
Vaughn Bruenn worked as a cost analyst for Northrop until being fired after he sought treatment for Hepatitis C. Bruenn filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against the company. ?Bruenn?s due process rights were violated when the trial judge failed to remove an incompetent juror,? states a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The judge also refused to admit evidence of discriminatory remarks made by one of Bruenn?s supervisors. The supervisor mistakenly accused Bruenn of being a homosexual with AIDS. The Supreme Court refused to re-hear the case.
Bruenn remarked, ?Can you image the torment I?ve endured, reading 45 days after my appeal to US Supreme Court for unlawful termination from Northrop after treatment for Hep C and Depression, the implication I was a homosexual and had AIDS by a manager and co-worker.?
Northrop Awarded USAID/PEPFAR Contracts
The President?s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) established the Partnership for Supply Chain Management (the Partnership) in 2005, a multi-billion dollar contract with 15 private sector institutions, including Northrop. The Partnership strengthens ?the lifeline of essential drugs and supplies for people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases in developing countries,? according to PEPFAR. President Bush created PEPFAR in 2003, through the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded Northrop a $4 billion dollar grant in May 2006, shared with four other companies, to provide services in the information technology platform and infrastructure services. Months later, in August 2006, USAID picked Northrop, along with three other companies, to compete for awards totaling $300 billion.
Political Connections and Contributions
According to the website OpenSecrets.org, Northrop maintains connections in the federal government. Several former Bush administration officials had ties to the company. Disgraced former Chief to the President, Lewis Libby served as a consultant to Northrop. Douglas J. Feith, former Under-Secretary for Policy, is the managing partner of a law firm whose clients include Northrop. Paul Wolfowitz, former World Bank president, also served as a consultant to Northrop. The current Under Secretary for the Comptroller Dov Zakheim is on Northrop?s paid advisory board.
Lobbying in Washington , D.C. is a multi-billion dollar industry. In 2000 Northrop gave lobbyists a total of $6,882,720, and $1,181,280 in 2001 and 2002. Northrop gave contributions to several members of Congress including $20,000 to Senator Trent Lott (R) and $17,000 to Rep. Ike Shelton (D).
Current Northrop CEO Ron Sugar makes political contributions to both sides of the aisle. California Senator Dianne Feinstein (D) received a $900 campaign contribution in June 2006. George Allen (R) of Virginia, the incumbent senator defeated by Senator Jim Webb, received $1,000.
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Freshly restructured and more-or-less on the mend, USAID?s PEPFAR is yet growing at the optimal time.
For 1 year, whistleblower Vaughn Bruenn said the time is at hand for a full investigation. That request has yet to materialize.
"I think USAID needs to be very careful about allocating further funds until they can prove they can reduce the number of prior lucrative fraudulent PEPFAR contract awards," said Bruenn, who openly complained about a $10.7M HIV/Hepatitis PEPFAR grant award going to Northrop Grumman 45 days after the US Supreme Court Denied Appeal Rehearing of his unlawful termination suit (Bruenn v, Northrop) after contracting, treatment of Hepatitis C.
In May, USAID lost Randall Tobias to a well published DC madam sex scandal. The president announced a week ago, that he was appropriating an additional $30B for PEPFAR. The prior $15B is no longer there nor was misuses mentioned.
Other also have shown to question logic of giant defense contractors like Northrop into the compassion care arena, especially as Northrop?s recover from years-long slump, openly stated desire to diversify, triggered by numerous DOD investigations concerns and fierce military contract competition.
During that period of Tobias reign at USAID -- when Northrop went from zero to $300B ? now they?re the single largest USAID contractor.
Congress became acutely aware of the crisis. But their own campaign funding sources were in many cases were often too rickety and resorted to Northrop for contributions (see Corruption Gone Wild)
TICKING CLOCK
The lack of control puzzles Bruenn. He noted, that he wrote every member of congress, all turned their back on him and the ensuing USAID crisis. Tobias remained at his post for 1 year,
" Bruenn said some members of congress may be delaying action in hopes of catching the impeachment wave that is rumored for this fall?..
"I think there's a lot of reluctance on the part of congress to go out on a limb when impeachment proceedings are looming," he said.
A QUESTION OF NEED
Officials generally agree that while the USAID needs to increase funding, the cost of mammoth fraud at the hands of Tobias/Northrop does not necessarily outweigh or lower the need for a full investigation
Dear Senator Shellby,
I am deeply troubled that the USAID investigation involving Randall Tobias and Northrop Grumman et al went nowhere.
I urge you to support a full investigation. I hope you will also work to address several key issues that will strengthen the agency and more effectively prevent future corruption and punishment for abusers
Thank you for your consideration of this important issue and await your early reply.
Sincerely yours,
-------------------------------------------------
Lisa Goldfluss Esq.:
Ref. USAID letter dated May 29, 2007
A little confused as the referenced letter arrived 2 days ago. This letter doesn't match 3 conversations we've had, beginning May 2007. Very annoyed with the USAID, your office first began the torment June 2006 (see Corruption Gone Wild) and today June 21, 2007, 1 year later, the torment continues and continues.
Conversation we had just last week indicated -- that the USAID OIG was conducting an investigation involving Tobias/Northrop Grumman -- "that process could take possibly years for the OIG to conclude and possibly be criminal prosecution later" etc. etc..
To better assist you, I've included some reference material, hopefully to assist the USAID OIG and your legal counsel LINK