University Times

Edward Everett Harlow Jr. and Eric S. Lander have been named winners of the University of Pittsburgh's 1996-97 Dickson Prize in Medicine for their pioneering research and significant contributions to medical science.

Harlow is scientific director at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and a faculty member at Harvard University Medical School. Lander is a faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and director of the Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research.

Harlow was presented with his award on Dec. 11, and then delivered an honorary lecture, "On the Research Trail-From Common Cold Viruses to Cancer Cell Cycle Control." Lander will receive his award and deliver his lecture on May 1.

As a researcher, Harlow has studied gene function and protein interactions in carcinogenesis. He was the first person to show that the retinoblastoma tumor suppresser gene product (a cancer-suppressing protein) is a target for viral oncogenes (cancer-causing genes).

A member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Microbiology and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Harlow is a past winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Prize from the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Cancer Research.

Lander has pioneered the construction of genome maps and the genetic dissection of traits that reflect the combination of genetics and the environment. He was the first researcher to produce genetic and physical maps of human and mouse genomes, and has used those tools to map genes involved in susceptibility to cancer, diabetes and hypertension.

In addition, Lander has developed methods for using isolated human populations to map genetic disease, and mathematical methods and computer software for genetic analysis of disease.

Lander is a member of the Human Genome Organization, the Genetics Society of America, the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Association of Human Genetics and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His previous awards include the Rhoads Memorial Award from the American Association for Cancer Research, the Baker Memorial Award from MIT and a MacArthur Prize Fellowship.

The Dickson Prize in Medicine, as well as the Dickson Prize in Science awarded by Carnegie Mellon University, were established in 1969 by the estates of Joseph Z. and Agnes Fisher Dickson to recognize individuals who have made significant, progressive contributions to the fields of medicine and science.