Anthony Pawson
Encyclopedia
Anthony 'Tony' James Pawson, OC
, OOnt
, CH
, FRS, FRSC (born October 18, 1952), British
-born Canadian
scientist
whose research has revolutionized the understanding of signal transduction
, the molecular mechanisms by which cells respond to external cues, and how they communicate with each other. He identified the phosphotyrosine-binding Src homology 2 (SH2 domain
) as the prototypic non-catalytic interaction module. SH2 domains serve as a model for a large family of protein modules that act together to control many aspects of cellular signaling. Since the discovery of SH2 domains, hundreds of different modules have been identified in many proteins.
Born in Maidstone
, England
, he received a MA
in biochemistry from the University of Cambridge
. Dr. Pawson received his Ph.D. from King's College London
in 1976. From 1976 to 1980 he pursued postdoctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley
. From 1981 to 1985, he was Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia
.
Dr. Pawson is a Distinguished Investigator and former Director of Research at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute
of Mount Sinai Hospital
and Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto
both of which he joined in 1985.
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, OOnt
Order of Ontario
The Order of Ontario is the most prestigious official honour in the Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier David Peterson, the civilian order is administered by the Governor-in-Council and is intended to...
, CH
Order of the Companions of Honour
The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded by King George V in June 1917, as a reward for outstanding achievements in the arts, literature, music, science, politics, industry or religion....
, FRS, FRSC (born October 18, 1952), British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-born Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
whose research has revolutionized the understanding of signal transduction
Signal transduction
Signal transduction occurs when an extracellular signaling molecule activates a cell surface receptor. In turn, this receptor alters intracellular molecules creating a response...
, the molecular mechanisms by which cells respond to external cues, and how they communicate with each other. He identified the phosphotyrosine-binding Src homology 2 (SH2 domain
SH2 domain
The SH2 domain is a structurally conserved protein domain contained within the Src oncoprotein and in many other intracellular signal-transducing proteins...
) as the prototypic non-catalytic interaction module. SH2 domains serve as a model for a large family of protein modules that act together to control many aspects of cellular signaling. Since the discovery of SH2 domains, hundreds of different modules have been identified in many proteins.
Born in Maidstone
Maidstone
Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, he received a MA
Master of Arts (Oxbridge)
In the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin, Bachelors of Arts of these universities are admitted to the degree of Master of Arts or Master in Arts on application after six or seven years' seniority as members of the university .There is no examination or study required for the degree...
in biochemistry from the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
. Dr. Pawson received his Ph.D. from King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
in 1976. From 1976 to 1980 he pursued postdoctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. From 1981 to 1985, he was Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
.
Dr. Pawson is a Distinguished Investigator and former Director of Research at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute
Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute
The Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada was established in 1985 by an endowment from the Lunenfeld and Kunin families. It comprises 36 principal investigators, has a budget of C$90 million , has over 200 trainees and approximately 600 staff...
of Mount Sinai Hospital
Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto)
Mount Sinai Hospital is a hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Although it is physically linked by bridges and tunnels to two University Health Network hospitals , Mount Sinai is an independently operated facility...
and Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
both of which he joined in 1985.
Honours and awards
- 1994 Gairdner Foundation International AwardGairdner Foundation International AwardThe Gairdner Foundation International Award is given annually at a special dinner to three to six people for outstanding discoveries or contributions to medical science. Receipt of the Gairdner is traditionally considered a precursor to winning the Nobel Prize in Medicine; as of 2007, 69 Nobel...
- 1994 Fellow of the Royal Society of London and the Royal Society of CanadaRoyal Society of CanadaThe Royal Society of Canada , may also operate under the more descriptive name RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada , is the oldest association of scientists and scholars in Canada...
- 1995 Robert L. Noble PrizeRobert L. Noble PrizeThe Robert L. Noble Prize is awarded each year by the National Cancer Institute of Canada to researchers whose contributions have led to a significant advance in cancer research...
from the National Cancer Institute of Canada - 1998 Pezcoller-AACR International Award for Cancer Research
- 1998 Dr H.P. Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
- 1998 The Royal Society of Canada Flavelle Medal for meritorious achievement in biological science
- 2000 J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine
- 2004 Louisa Gross Horwitz PrizeLouisa Gross Horwitz PrizeLouisa Gross Horwitz Prize for Biology or Biochemistry is an annual prize awarded by Columbia University to a researcher or group of researchers that have made an outstanding contribution in basic research in the fields of biology or biochemistry....
from Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the... - 2004 Poulsson Medal, the Norwegian Society of Pharmacology and Toxicology
- 2004 Associate of the National Academy of Sciences (US)
- 2004 Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (US)
- 2005 Wolf Prize in MedicineWolf Prize in MedicineThe Wolf Prize in Medicine is awarded once a year by the Wolf Foundation in Israel. It is one of the six Wolf Prizes established by the Foundation and awarded since 1978; the others are in Agriculture, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics and Arts. The Prize is probably the third most prestigious award...
"for his discovery of protein domains essential for mediating protein-protein interactions in cellular signaling pathways, and the insights this research has provided into cancer" - 2005 The Royal Medal from The Royal Society of London
- 2006 Companion of Honour
- 2007 Premiers Summit Award
- 2007 Howard Taylor Ricketts AwardHoward Taylor RickettsHoward Taylor Ricketts was an American pathologist after whom the Rickettsiaceae family and the Rickettsiales are named....
from University of ChicagoUniversity of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890... - 2008 Kyoto PrizeKyoto PrizeThe has been awarded annually since 1985 by the Inamori Foundation, founded by Kazuo Inamori. The prize is a Japanese award similar in intent to the Nobel Prize, as it recognizes outstanding works in the fields of philosophy, arts, science and technology...
- "Japan's Nobel" for "Proposing and Proving the Concept of Adapter Molecules in the Signal Transduction"
Selected publications
- Nash, P., Tang, X., Orlicky, S., Chen, Q., Gertler, F.B., Mendenhall, M.D., Sicheri, F., Pawson, T., Tyers, M. (2001) Multi-site phosphorylation of a CDK inhibitor sets a threshold for the onset of DNA replication. NatureNature (journal)Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
414: 514-521. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v414/n6863/abs/414514a.html - Holland, S. J., Gale, N. W., Mbamalu, G., Yancopoulos, G. D., Henkemeyer, M., & Pawson, T. (1996). Bidirectional signalling through the EPH-family receptor Nuk and its transmembrane ligands. Nature 383(6602), 722-5. (Link to article)
- Salcini, A. E., McGlade, J., Pelicci, G., Nicoletti, I., Pawson, T., & Pelicci, P. G. (1994). Formation of Shc-Grb2 complexes is necessary to induce neoplastic transformation by overexpression of Shc proteins. Oncogene, 9(10), 2827-36. (Link to article)
- Henkemeyer, M., Marengere, L. E., McGlade, J., Olivier, J. P., Conlon, R. A., Holmyard, D. P., Letwin, K., & Pawson, T. (1994). Immunolocalization of the Nuk receptor tyrosine kinase suggests roles in segmental patterning of the brain and axonogenesis. Oncogene, 9(4), 1001-14. (Link to article)
- Stephens, R. M., Loeb, D. M., Copeland, T. D., Pawson, T., Greene, L. A., & Kaplan, D. R. (1994). Trk receptors use redundant signal transduction pathways involving SHC and PLC-gamma 1 to mediate NGF. Neuron, 12(3), 691-705. (Link to article)
- Crowe, A. J., McGlade, J., Pawson, T., & Hayman, M. J. (1994). Phosphorylation of the SHC proteins on tyrosine correlates with the transformation of fibroblasts and erythroblasts by the v-sea tyrosine kinase. Oncogene, 9(2), 537-44. (Link to article)
- Marengere, L. E., Zhou, S., Gish, G. D., Schaller, M. D., Parsons, J. T., Stern, M. J. Cantley, L. C., & Pawson, T. (1994). SH2 domain specificity and activity modified by a single residue. Nature, 369(6480), 502-5. (Link to article)
External links
- Anthony Pawson official website at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research InstituteSamuel Lunenfeld Research InstituteThe Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada was established in 1985 by an endowment from the Lunenfeld and Kunin families. It comprises 36 principal investigators, has a budget of C$90 million , has over 200 trainees and approximately 600 staff...
- The Official Site of Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize
- Online Publications (University of Toronto)