Stanley B. Prusiner 160138 225683784 2008-07-14T21:55:51Z 192.197.71.189 {{Infobox Scientist | name = Stanley Prusiner | image = Stanley B. Prusiner 2001.jpg | image_width = 150px | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1942|5|28}} | birth_place = [[Des Moines, Iowa]], [[United States]] | residence = [[San Francisco]], [[United States]] | nationality = [[United States|American]] | field = [[Neurology]], [[infectious disease]] | work_institution = [[University of California, San Francisco]] | alma_mater = [[University of Pennsylvania]] | known_for = [[Prion]]s</br>[[Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy]]</br>[[Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease]] | prizes = [[Image:Nobel prize medal.svg|20px]] [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] (1997)</br>[[Potamkin Prize]] (1991)</br>[[Lasker Award]] (1994) }} '''Stanley Ben Prusiner''' (born [[May 28]], [[1942]]<ref name="Nobel"/>) is an American [[Neurology|neurologist]] and [[Biochemistry|biochemist]]. Currently the director of the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases at [[University of California, San Francisco]] (UCSF), Prusiner discovered [[prion]]s, a class of [[Infection|infectious]] [[Biological reproduction|self-reproducing]] [[pathogen]]s primarily or solely composed of [[protein]]. For his prion research he received the [[Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research]] in 1994 and the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] in 1997. Prusiner was born in [[Des Moines, Iowa]] and spent his childhood in Des Moines and [[Cincinnati, Ohio]], where he attended [[Walnut Hills High School]]. Prusiner received a [[Bachelor of Science]] [[Academic degree|degree]] in [[chemistry]] from the [[University of Pennsylvania]] and later received his [[Doctor of Medicine|M.D.]] from the [[University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine]].<ref name="Nobel"/> Prusiner then completed an [[internship]] in medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Later Prusiner moved to the [[National Institutes of Health]], where he studied glutaminases in ''[[Escherichia coli|E. coli]]'' in the laboratory of Earl Stadtman. After three years at NIH, Prusiner returned to UCSF to complete a [[Residency (medicine)|residency]] in [[neurology]]. Upon completion of the residency in 1974, Prusiner joined the faculty of the UCSF neurology department. Since that time, Prusiner has held various faculty and visiting faculty positions at both UCSF and [[University of California, Berkeley|UC Berkeley]]. Prusiner won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1997 for his work proposing an explanation for the cause of [[bovine spongiform encephalopathy]] ("mad cow disease") and its human equivalent, [[Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease]].<ref name="Nobel">{{cite web | url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1997/prusiner-autobio.html | title=Stanley B. Prusiner - Autobiography | publisher=NobelPrize.org | accessdate=2007-01-02}}</ref> In this work, he coined the term ''prion'', which comes from "proteinaceous infectious particle that lacks [[nucleic acid]]" to refer to a previously undescribed form of infection due to protein misfolding.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/01/what_really_cau.html | title=What really causes mad cow disease? | publisher=Wired | date=[[January 31]] [[2007]] | accessdate=2007-01-02}}</ref> Prusiner was elected to the [[United States National Academy of Sciences| National Academy of Science]] in 1992 and to its governing council in 2007. He is also an elected member of [[the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] (1993), the [[Royal Society]] (1996), the [[American Philosophical Society]] (1998), the [[Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts]] (2003), and the Institute of Medicine. ==Awards== * [[Potamkin Prize]] for Alzheimer’s Disease Research from the American Academy of Neurology (1991) * The Richard Lounsberry Award for Extraordinary Scientific Research in Biology and Medicine from the National Academy of Sciences (1993) * The [[Gairdner Foundation International Award]] (1993) * The [[Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research]] (1994) * The [[Paul Ehrlich Prize]] from the Federal Republic of Germany (1995) * The [[Wolf Prize in Medicine]] from the [[Wolf Foundation]]/[[Israel|State of Israel]] (1996) * The Keio International Award for Medical Science (1996) * The [[Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize]] from [[Columbia University]] (1997) * The [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] (1997) ==References== {{Reflist}} *{{cite journal |author=Prusiner S. B. |title=Novel proteinaceous infectious particles cause scrapie |journal=Science |year=1982 |volume=216 |pages=136–144 |doi=10.1126/science.6801762 |pmid=6801762}} *{{cite journal |author=Prusiner S. B. |title=Molecular biology of prion diseases |journal=Science |year=1991 |volume=252 |pages=1515–1522 |doi=10.1126/science.1675487 |pmid=1675487}} ==External links== *[http://nobelprize.org/medicine/laureates/1997/ Prusiner's Nobel Prize page] * [http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/horwitz/ The Official Site of Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize] *[http://prusinerlab.ucsf.edu/index.php UCSF page] {{Wolf Prize in Medicine}} {{Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureates 1976-2000}} <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] --> {{Persondata |NAME= Prusiner, Stanley |ALTERNATIVE NAMES= |SHORT DESCRIPTION= Neurologist, biochemist |DATE OF BIRTH= [[May 28]], [[1942]] |PLACE OF BIRTH= [[Des Moines, Iowa]], [[United States]] |DATE OF DEATH= |PLACE OF DEATH= }} {{DEFAULTSORT:Prusiner, Stanley B.}} [[Category:1942 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:American biochemists]] [[Category:Foreign Members of the Royal Society]] [[Category:Jewish American scientists]] [[Category:Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine]] [[Category:Members of the National Academy of Sciences]] [[Category:Members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts]] [[Category:Prions]] [[Category:University of California, San Francisco faculty]] [[Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni]] [[Category:Wolf Prize in Medicine laureates]] [[ca:Stanley Ben Prusiner]] [[cs:Stanley B. 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