Erkki Ruoslahti, M.D., Ph.D., winner of the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award
“I am honored to have been recognized by the Lasker Foundation for my work and thankful for Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute for supporting me throughout much of my scientific career.”
LA JOLLA, Calif. (PRWEB)
September 28, 2022
Erkki Ruoslahti, M.D., Ph.D., Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Sanford Burnham Prebys, has been announced as one of three winners of the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, the most prestigious American award for biomedical research, for his transformational research leading to the discovery of the cell adhesion receptors now known as integrins.
“Winning the Lasker Award is the dream of many American researchers working in biomedicine,” says Ruoslahti. “I am honored to have been recognized by the Lasker Foundation for my work and thankful for Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute for supporting me throughout much of my scientific career.”
Ruoslahti shares the award with Richard O. Hynes from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Timothy A. Springer from Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, for their independent discovery of the integrins. The award presentation is viewable at https://www.laskerawards.live/.
“Integrin-mediated cell adhesion guides cell migration and keeps our tissues together. Like molecular zip codes, it directs cells to the right location and keeps them attached there. Integrin activity in cancer cells is altered, which makes them capable of spreading to distant sites in the body, where they form metastases.”
Integrins are cell receptors that facilitate interactions between cells and with their environment. When integrins bind to their target molecules, they trigger biological actions such as cell attachment, movement, death or differentiation. Since the discovery, integrins have been studied in cancer (progression, metastasis, angiogenesis), sepsis, fibrosis, viral infections and autoimmunity. Integrin-targeting clinical trials—especially in cancer—are ongoing, and the approach remains promising.
In addition to helping open the integrin field, Ruoslahti’s discoveries led to the development of RGD-based drugs for vascular thrombosis and other diseases, including current efforts to direct drugs into tumors by making use of integrins expressed on tumor blood vessels but not on normal vessels.
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