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Gary J. Nabel, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr.
Nabel is well known as a molecular virologist and immunologist
for his work in the fields of HIV, cancer, and Ebola virus
research. His laboratory has studied mechanisms by which cells
coordinately regulate the expression of genes during viral
infection and development.
When he undertook the position of Director of the Vaccine
Research Center in 1999, Dr. Nabel said that he was honored
and excited by the opportunity to accept the challenge issued
by President Clinton to commit to developing a vaccine against
AIDS. At his prior institution, University of Michigan in
Ann Arbor, he was the Henry Sewall Professor of Internal Medicine,
professor of biological chemistry, and Howard Hughes Medical
Institute investigator.
Dr. Nabel’s early work defined the key cellular protein
that acts as a switch to stimulate the HIV virus to start
copying itself during activation of immune system cells. These
studies defined one of the important determinants of whether
the virus lies quietly in the cells or starts reproducing.
Since then, his laboratory has examined this regulatory pathway
in much more detail, identifying several other regulators
and their roles and showing that activation of the key regulator
is linked to cell cycle control.
Dr. Nabel's interest in viral gene expression and vaccines
has involved other emerging viruses. In late 1997, he led
a group of researchers who demonstrated in guinea pigs that
a DNA-based vaccine could generate protective immune responses
in Ebola virus. He and his colleagues were also the first
to use direct gene transfer to introduce therapeutic proteins
into patients with melanoma---showing the feasibility and
safety of this approach.
Dr. Nabel graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College
in 1975, then entered the university's M.D.-Ph.D. program,
completing his Ph.D. in 1980 and his M.D. 2 years later. He
then served as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of
David Baltimore at MIT’s Whitehead Institute.
In 1987, Dr. Nabel became an assistant professor of internal
medicine and assistant professor of biological chemistry at
University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In addition to his faculty
positions, Dr. Nabel was the director of the Center for Gene
Therapy and co-director of the Center for Molecular Medicine
at the university.
In recognition of his expertise at the forefront of virology,
immunology, gene therapy, and molecular biology, Dr. Nabel
was elected a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National
Academy of Sciences in 1998. Another of his honors is the
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology-Amgen
Scientific Achievement Award in 1996.
Dr. Nabel currently is associate editor of Journal of
Virology and serves on the editorial boards of several
other journals. He has participated on several NIH advisory
committees, including the National Institute for Allergy and
Infectious Diseases AIDS Research Advisory Committee, which
he chaired from 1996-97. |