BIOLOGY

The Harvard Medical School- Partners Healthcare Center for Genetics and Genomics (HPCGG) and the Genetics Society of America (GSA) announced today that faculty member Stephen Elledge, Ph.D., has received the 2005 Genetics Society of America Medal for outstanding contributions in the field of genetics over the past 15 years. Elledge, one of the founding research investigators of the HPCGG and the Gregor Mendel Professor of Genetics at the Harvard Medical School, received the GSA award for his seminal research in understanding cell cycle regulation -- the set of molecular events that control cell proliferation and growth. An award ceremony will take place today at 2pm (EST) at Harvard Medical School's New Research Building in Boston, Massachusetts. "The GSA is pleased to recognize the contributions of Steve Elledge in using genetic analysis of the model organism yeast to identify key regulatory proteins essential for the proper regulation of cell division and then defining the crucial role these proteins play in human cells to prevent cancer," said Terry Orr-Weaver, 2005 President of The Genetics Society of America, Member, Whitehead Institute and Professor of Biology, MIT. One of Elledge's discoveries includes a gene known as Cdk2, which was found to be responsible for controlling the G1 to S cell cycle transition. This transition is a critical step for normal cell division, but often found to be defective in cancer cells. Elledge also discovered a family of genes known as ribonucleotide reductases, which play a role in the synthesis of DNA and are switched on in response to DNA damage in yeast. Using these genes as a springboard, and new tools invented in his laboratory to examine the human counterparts of yeast genes, Elledge was able to identify the genes and molecular networks responsible for sensing and responding to DNA damage. Elledge's work has elucidated many of the molecular "checkpoints" of cell division that are essential to maintaining genomic stability, and protecting the cell from mutations that could lead to the development of tumors. Another significant discovery to emerge from Elledge's research was the identification of proteins with a conserved region called F-box, which are responsible for identifying and tagging other proteins for destruction. This regulatory function is necessary to maintain the viability of cells and to properly control their ability to divide. Hundreds of proteins containing the F-Box motif have been discovered since, leading many to think that this class of protein is crucial to controlling events in the cell. Since Elledge and co-workers published this discovery, over one thousand articles have examined F-Box proteins and their role in gene expression, immune response, embryonic development, circadian rhythms and cancer. Elledge has pioneered the development of new tools to systematically uncover the function of genes expressed in mammalian cells. Together with Gregory Hannon, Ph.D. of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, Elledge is creating a library of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) that are capable of shutting down the expression of specific genes in the human genome. He will be applying these libraries to understanding the function of genes involved in cell cycle control, checkpoint signaling, tumor development, and cell growth. "I am proud that Steve is a member of our faculty. Steve was among the first group of scientists I recruited when we established the Harvard/Partners Center for Genetics and Genomics, and is an important part of our efforts, which are focused on discovery and translation genetic knowledge into diagnoses and treatments that benefit patients. His work exemplifies the high caliber scientific research at HPCGG, and has enlightened the research community to many of the fundamental genetic mechanisms of cancer and other diseases," said Raju Kucherlapati, Ph.D., Scientific Director of the HPCGG. Dr. Elledge's previous honors include receiving the G.H.A. Clowes Memorial Award from the American Association for Cancer Research, the Paul Marks Prize for cancer research from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the Michael E. DeBakey Award for research excellence, the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program Innovator Award, and the 2002 National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology. He was recently elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.