(NEW YORK, N.Y) R. John Collier, Ph.D., Maude and Lillian Presley Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the Harvard Medical School, was named winner of the Thirteenth Annual Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Infectious Diseases Research for his major contributions to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which bacteria cause disease. His historic discoveries have influenced the design of vaccines and toxin-based anticancer agents and have recently led to novel therapeutic strategies against anthrax in the war against bioterrorism.

For nearly 40 years, Dr. Collier and his colleagues have been at the forefront in providing the scientific community with a growing understanding of the mechanisms of action of bacterial toxins. Working initially with diphtheria toxin, he was the first to demonstrate that a toxin could enter human cells and inactivate an intracellular target molecule. Specifically he showed how the diphtheria toxin interfered with protein synthesis in the cell by inactivating an intracellular target called elongation factor-2. This revolutionary discovery led to the more expansive conclusion that most major bacterial toxins act by modifying intracellular targets.

Dr. Collier then went further, by elucidating the fundamental structures of toxins and how they function inside a cell. Intracellularly acting toxins were found to consist of two units, A and B, which together contribute to cell damage. In this A-B paradigm, the B subunit allows for cell binding and forms a pathway for the A subunit to cross a membrane and enter the cell interior, where it gains access to its target. There, the A subunit modifies its target molecule, causing death of the cell or, in some cases, a toxic disruption of an important cellular function. As a result of these early discoveries, similar studies were undertaken with other toxins. In addition, for the first time in the field of toxinology, Dr. Collier'
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Contact: John Lacey
Public_Affairs@hms.harvard.edu
617-432-0442
Harvard Medical School
17-Jul-2003

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