Dr. Gregory Petsko Receives 2015 M. J. Buerger Award from the American Crystallographic Association
Dr. Gregory Petsko, director of the Helen and Robert Appel Alzheimer's Disease Research Institute at Weill Cornell, has won the 2015 M. J. Buerger Award from The American Crystallographic Association.
Dr. Gregory Petsko Credit: Carlos Rene Perez
The triennial award honors scientists who have made exceptional contributions to the field of crystallography, the study of the structure and function of atoms. It's named in memory of mineralogist Dr. Martin J. Buerger, a pioneer in his field who invented a camera that revealed the arrangement of atoms by bouncing X-rays off crystals and studying the patterns they made. Dr. Petsko will receive his award during the association's annual meeting, slated for July 2015 in Philadelphia.
"When I received the call telling me that I had been chosen to receive the Martin Buerger Award — a call that came as a complete surprise — I found that I was quite deeply moved," said Dr. Petsko, the Arthur J. Mahon Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience in the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute.
Not only does the award honor his contributions to crystallography, which he's dedicated the bulk of his career investigating, but Dr. Petsko also knew Dr. Buerger personally. He learned about the field from Dr. Buerger's numerous books, and they were colleagues at MIT.
More recently, Dr. Petsko has focused his research on the relationship between proteins and age-related neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Lou Gehrig's disease, ultimately working toward the development of new therapies.
"To receive this award from the American Crystallographic Association was a tangible sign that I was still considered part of the community," he said. "And that felt very sweet."
The association — an international society for crystallography researchers — organizes meetings and promotes collaboration among scientists to advance the field of crystallography.
Additional Awards and Honors
Dr. Lawrence Casalino, the Livingston Farrand Professor of Public Health and professor of healthcare policy and research, was in April appointed senior advisor to Richard Kronick, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The agency's mission is to produce evidence to make health care safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable and affordable, and to work with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and other partners to make sure that the evidence is understood and used.
Dr. Nelson Moussazadeh, a resident in neurological surgery, has been awarded a one-year fellowship from the Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation for a project entitled "Genomic Characterization of Spinal Metastases and Paired Primary Tumors to Identify Patterns of Spinal Tropism and Clonal Evolution."
Dr. Renat Shaykhiev, assistant professor of genetic medicine, chaired a mini-symposium during the American Thoracic Society's International Conference on May 21 in San Diego. "Old Dog, New Tricks: Advances in Lung Cancer Biology," featured 10 presentations on lung cancer-related topics.