http://unisci.com/stories/20014/1101015.htm
01-Nov-2001
The Ameritec Foundation has selected
Professor Marie T. Filbin of Hunter College of the City University of New
York as co-recipient of the 2001 Ameritec Prize for significant accomplishment
toward a cure for paralysis.
Director of the college's Specialized
Neuroscience Research program, Professor Filbin -- the first female winner
-- shares the prize with Professor Mu-Ming Poo of the University of California
at Berkeley.
Their research, conducted independently,
relates to the role played by a molecule called cyclic AMP in affecting
the regeneration of nerve axons after injury. Both scientists will receive
the prize at the Neurotrauma Symposium in San Diego on November 10, 2001.
Professors Filbin and Poo are the
eighth winners of the Ameritec Prize, established in 1987 specifically
to recognize scientists whose research advances the search towards a cure
for paralysis. Winners of the prize, funded by the nonprofit Ameritec Foundation
in Covino, California, are chosen by an advisory board of prominent medical
researchers.
Previous winners include Prof. Martin
Schwab of Switzerland; Prof. Yves Barde of France; Prof. Fred Gage, the
Salk Institute; Prof. Corey Goodman, formerly of the University of California
at Berkeley; Prof. Marc Terrier-Lavigne, formerly of the University of
California at San Francisco; Professor Thomas Jessel, Columbia University;
and Dr. Albert Aquayo, McGill University.
Professor Filbin's research in neurobiology
has received national and international recognition; her findings have
been published in Neuron and other prestigious magazines. The work in the
Filbin lab that led to the Ameritec Prize began when the Hunter researchers
identified a molecule in the brain and spinal cord that potentially inhibited
nerve re-growth.
This molecule, called MAG, is found
in the myelin membrane, the membrane that ensheaths and insulates nerves.
After injury, when both myelin and nerves are damaged, MAG and other inhibitors
of regeneration become exposed to the nerves that are trying to re-grow
and stops them.
"The rush was now on to identify
ways to overcome not only MAG but all the inhibitors of regeneration in
myelin," recalls Professor Filbin. Her lab accomplished this by showing
that neurotrophins -- agents essential for the development and survival
of neurons -- blocked the inhibition by MAG and myelin in general.
Particularly important was their
finding that neurotrophins had this effect by activating a molecule called
cyclic AMP (cAMP). The members of the team then showed that if the levels
of cAMP in neurons was increased, this was sufficient to overcome the inhibitors
in myelin and to encourage nerve regeneration in vivo.
"Marie Filbin has made a groundbreaking
discovery," says Bob Yant, administrator of the Ameritec Prize. "We're
quite excited about this finding, which potentially opens a new line of
investigation and could ultimately lead to novel therapies for those with
spinal cord injuries."
Professor Filbin was born in Lurgan,
Northern Ireland. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Bath, United
Kingdom in 1982, and over the next two years, conducted post-doctoral training
in the Department of Pharmacology, University of Maryland at Baltimore.
From 1984-1986 she was a post-doctoral fellow in the Neurology Department,
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, advancing to Research Associate in the
same department, where she served from 1986-1990.
In the Department of Biological Sciences
at Hunter College, the largest college in the City University of New York,
Professor Filbin has held the titles of Associate Professor (1990-1995),
Professor (1995-1997), Marie Hesselbach Chair in Biology (1997-1998), and
Distinguished Professor (1998-present). She has directed the college's
Specialized Neuroscience Research Program since 2000. - By Maria Terrone
Related website:
Hunter College
Contact: Maria Terrone
http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/