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# 110393
Dr. Richard Lerner ReceivesPrestigious Ilumboldt Award
La Jolla, CA. November3, L993- RichardA. krner, M.D., Presidentof The Scripps
ResearchInstitute, has beennameda recipient of the prestigiousHumboldt ResearchAward
for SeniorU.S. Scientists. The award,grantedin recognitionof significantpast scientific
accomplishmentsin researchand training, is sponsoredby the Alexandervon Humboldt
Foundationin Bonn, Germany. In addition,it is intendedto promotelong-termspecialized
cooperationbetweenAmerican and Germanresearchersand their respectiveinstitutions.
The awardhonorskrner's internationallyrecognizedcontributionsto biomedicalresearch.
He is regardedas one the first scientiststo demonstratethat peptides-- short chainsof amino
acids-- could be usedto elicit antibodiesagainstintactprotein molecules,and to suggestthat
this technologycould be nrrnedto the productionof synthetic,peptide-based
vaccines. This
work, in turn, led to the discoverythat the regionsof proteins that are most antigenic share
properties.
certainphysicaland three-dimensional
l.erner also pioneeredthe methodologyof commandeeringthe mammalianimmune systemto
manufactureantibodiesthat perform the chemicalfunctionsof enzymecatalysts. Moreover,
in the courseof preparingincreasingnumbersof new catalyticantibodies,he and his
colleaguesdevelopeda meansby which to screenfor and detectmonoclonalantibodiesseveral
thousandtimes more efficiently than by using conventionaltechniques.
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Dr. Richard Lerner ReceivesPrestigious Humboldt Award
Lerner graduatedfrom NorthwesternUniversity and StanfordUniversity Medical School
where he studiedchemistry as well as medicine. He servedan internship at Palo Alto
Stanford Hospital and receivedpostdoctoraltraining at ScrippsClinic and Research
Foundationin experimentalpathology. Following a staff appoinnnentat the Wistar Institute
in Philadelphia,he joined the ResearchInstinrteof ScrippsClinic in 1970and became
Chairmanof its Departrrentof MolecularBiology in L982. In 1987he was appointed
Presidentof The ScrippsResearchInstitute.
Under I-erner'sleadership,The ScrippsResearchInstitutehasbecomeone of the world's
most advancedcentersfor researchin structuralbiology and the analysisof the threedimensionalstructureof proteins and other macromolecules.
A memberof the NationalAcademyof Sciences,Lerner has servedas Consultantto a Special
Virus CancerProgram,NCI; as ad hoc Memberof the MolecularBiology Study Section;on
the FellowshipScreeningCommitteeof the CaliforniaDivision, ACS; and as a Member of
the OrganizationCommitteefor Modern Approachesto Vaccines,Cold SpringHarbor
Laboratories.
Irrner was the recipientof the ParkeDavis Award in 1978,John A. Muntz Memorial Prae
in 1990; SanMarino Prize in 1990;The BurroughsWellcomeFund and the FASEB
WellcomeVisiting ProfessorAward in 1990;HonoraryDoctoratefrom the Karolinska
Institute, Stockfiolm,Sweden,in 1990;The CollegeDe Francekctureship in l99L; Artlur
C. Cope ScholarAward in 1991; The TenthAnnual JeanettePipernoBiomedicalResearch
Award in t992; and the SixteenthAnnual CIBA-GEIGY Drew Award in BiomedicalResearch
in 1992.
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Dr. Richard Lerner ReceivesPrestigious Humboldt Award
krner holds membershipsin the American Societyof ExperimentalPathology, American
Societyof Microbiology, New York Academyof Sciences,BiophysicalSocietyand the pluto
Society.
He serveson the editorialboardsof The Journalof Virology, MolecularBiology and
Medicine, Vaccine,In Vivo, PeptideResearch,Bioorganicand Medicinal Chemistrykuers,
Drug Targetingand Delivery, and PNAS.
In 1985, Lerner was electeda ForeignMemberof the Royal SwedishAcademyof Sciences;
Member of the NationalAcademyof ScienceUSA in t99l; Member of the ScientificPolicy
Advisory Committee,UppsalaUniversity, Swedenin 1991;Memberof the Scientific
Advisory Board, EconomicDevelopmentBoard, Singapore,in 1991; and rrustee, The
Neurosciences
ResearchFoundation.1992.
He has authoredmore than 250 scientificpublicationsas well as severalbook chaptersand a
numberof abstracts.
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