|
|
|
Print this article 
Nobel Laureate Ferid Murad to Deliver 2010 Plenary Lecture
 |
Ferid Murad |
Nobel Laureate Ferid Murad, Director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine and the John S. Dunn Distinguished Chair in Physiology and Medicine at the University of Texas, will deliver the Plenary Opening Lecture, “Discovery of Nitric Oxide and Cyclic GMP Cell Signaling and Their Role in Drug Development,” on Monday, March 8 from 8:00 AM–9:00 AM in Exhibit Hall E, Salt Palace Convention Center.
His key research demonstrated that nitroglycerin and related drugs worked by releasing nitric oxide into the body, which acts as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system, making blood vessels dilate. Further elucidation of the signaling process resulted from the efforts of Robert F. Furchgott and Louis J. Ignarro, with the three scientists receiving the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and Drs. Murad and Furchgott receiving the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1996. Dr. Murad will discuss the discovery of the first biological effects of nitric oxide and how the field has evolved. In addition, he will address the possible use of this signaling pathway to facilitate novel drug development and the creation of numerous projects in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
Dr. Murad received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from the pre-med program at DePauw University in 1958, and an M.D and Ph.D. in pharmacology from Case Western Reserve University in 1965. He then joined the University of Virginia, where he was made professor in 1970, before moving to Stanford University in 1981. He left his tenure at Stanford in 1988 for a position at Abbott Laboratories, where he served as a vice president until starting his own biotechnology company, the Molecular Geriatrics Corporation, in 1993. Dr. Murad joined the University of Texas in 1997 to create a new department of integrative biology, pharmacology, and physiology. He has been awarded a 2010 Honorary Membership in the Society of Toxicology.
|
