Program - Society of Toxicology

Society of Toxicology 2011
SOT 2011 Award Recipients (Continued)
For his extraordinary achievements and contributions to
ensuring the safety of food, the Society recognizes Joseph
F. Borzelleca as the 2011 Founders Award recipient. His
career epitomizes the use of toxicological science to create
a healthier world.
Leading Edge in Basic Science Award
In recognition of his accomplishments and impact on the
field of toxicology, the Society of Toxicology recognizes
Dr. Masayuki Yamamoto with the SOT 2011 Leading Edge
in Basic Science Award.
Leading Edge in Basic Science Award Lecture:
Roles of Keap1-Nrf2 in Environmental Response,
Tuesday, March 8, 7:00 AM–7:50 AM, Room 201
SPECIal Events
Masayuki
Yamamoto
Masayuki Yamamoto, M.D., Ph.D., is
awarded the 2011 SOT Leading Edge
in Basic Science Award for his
discovery and characterization of the
Keap1-Nrf2 signaling pathway, a
seminal scientific advance that is
having a profound and pervasive
impact on the field of toxicology.
Currently Vice President, Tohoku
University, and Dean of the Tohoku
University Graduate School of
Medicine, Sendai, Japan, he is an
incredibly productive scientist,
publishing regularly in high impact journals.
Over the past decade, the transcription factor Nrf2 has
become recognized as a master regulator of adaptive
responses to oxidative and electrophilic stresses. Expression
levels, polymorphisms and mutations in the pathway all
affect susceptibility of mammals to a wide range of toxicants.
Dr. Yamamoto has been at the forefront of defining both the
molecular details of signal transduction via Nrf2 and the
mechanisms underlying cell survival via this pathway. He
and his colleagues have recently used the tools of molecular
biology, mouse genetics and structural biology to describe
the intricate details of how chemical signals are transduced
through Keap1 to allow Nrf2 to accumulate in the nucleus
and activate or repress its target genes.
Dr. Yamamoto has identified and characterized to a
remarkable level of depth in a short period a signaling
pathway that influences the toxicological responses of a wide
range of agents. The importance of this pathway in human
disease, especially that with underlying environmental
etiologies, is only beginning to emerge, but will be a topic of
intense investigation over the next few years.
Dr. Yamamoto has clearly shown his dedication to basic
toxicological research throughout his scientific career. He
has published more than 400 research articles, including
199 Nrf2 papers, in which 113 are toxicology related. He
continues to make seminal and significant contributions
to the Nrf2 field, having published 124 papers (71 with
toxicology topics) in the past five years alone.
Merit Award
Michael Aschner, Ph.D., ATS, is the
recipient of the 2011 SOT Merit Award
in recognition of his distinguished
contributions to toxicology throughout
his career. He is currently the Gray E.
B. Stahlman Chair of Neuroscience
and Full Professor of Pediatrics and
Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University
Medical Center, where he also directs
the Division of Pediatric Clinical
Michael Aschner Pharmacology and Toxicology and
serves as a Senior Scientist in the
Kennedy Center for Research on
Human Development.
Dr. Aschner is a worldwide authority in the field of metal
neurotoxicity, particularly with regard to methylmercury
and manganese. Over the years, he has characterized the
molecular mechanisms of methylmercury neurotoxicity,
particularly in glial cells. His pioneer work has allowed
shifting the “neuronocentric” theory of neurotoxicity to
the understanding of the important roles that glial cells
play in modulating the neurotoxicity of this organometal
and of other compounds. His research in this area has been
supported continuously by NIEHS for the past twenty years,
and his major R01 grant on this topic was recently renewed
for another five years.
In addition to another NIEHS grant that has supported
his research on manganese over the years, Dr. Aschner
has also served as the Principal Investigator of a major
Department of Defense Research Program (Manganese
Health Research Program) which has funded his research
as well as that of several other laboratories under his
guidance and administration. He has also made many other
innovative contributions in related fields, showing his ability
to identify new trends and needs in neurotoxicology. His
early recognition of the potential of “omics” technologies in
neurotoxicology has led to important and thought-provoking
commentaries on this topic. An extremely productive
scientist, he has authored almost 300 peer-reviewed
publications, dozens of book chapters, and several books,
among other publications.
up-to-date information at www.toxicology.org
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