The American Heart Association presented its prestigious Research Achievement Award to Jan L. Breslow, M.D., of Rockefeller University, New York City, for "transcendent discoveries" of genes encoding for components of the body's lipid transport system and how their regulation and individual variations affect cholesterol levels and human susceptibility to disease.
Breslow, Fredrick Henry Leonhardt Professor and Director of the Rockefeller Laboratory of Biochemical Genetics and Metabolism, received the award, a citation and $2,500 honorarium, during the opening of the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2010 at McCormick Place. Association President Ralph Sacco, M.D., of Miami made the presentation.
With this annual award, the American Heart Association recognizes career achievement by a distinguished scientist who heads a premier cardiovascular research laboratory.
Sacco said Breslow "made history" by cloning and characterizing both normal and mutant forms of the genes for apo A-1, apo E and the apo C family of lipoproteins. "This classic work advanced understanding of the primary carrier lipoproteins, including HDL, LDL and VLDL," Dr. Sacco said. HDL, so-called "good" cholesterol, removes fat from blood while "bad" LDL is blamed for buildups of artery plaque leading to heart attacks and strokes.
Breslow used the genes he found to generate mouse models mimicking disorders of human lipid metabolism. The "heart attack mouse" models revealed new functions for these genes and expanded the search for more effective coronary disease treatments, Sacco said.
"These pioneering revelations have dramatically advanced worldwide scientific inquiry into disorders affecting cholesterol transport, synthesis, absorption and disposition."
A native New Yorker, Breslow joined the Rockefeller University faculty in 1984. He is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Medical School.
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