2021 Awardee
Christine Dunham, PhD (Biochemistry)
“Over the last decade or so at Emory, Dr. Dunham’s group has performed pioneering work on the structural and biochemical basis for regulation of protein synthesis by the bacterial ribosome. Within this broader context of continuous ground-breaking research, this nomination is specifically based on Dr. Dunham’s recent publication with colleagues at Microbiotix and Penn State University on novel antimicrobial development (see Aron et al. “trans-Translation inhibitors bind to a novel site on the ribosome and clear Neisseria gonorrhoeae in vivo”, Nature Communications, 2021). Critically, this work promises to allow development of new, paradigm-shifting approaches that are urgently needed for treatment of drug resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae.”
“Dr. Dunham’s research has centered on building a fundamental understanding of diverse ribosomal quality control mechanisms in gene expression. These have included intrinsic mechanisms such as the process of frameshifting, which is essential for prokaryotic and viral gene expression, as well as exogenous control via novel toxin-antitoxin systems used by bacteria to persist in the face of external stressors such as antibiotic treatment.”
“Dr. Dunham’s outstanding body of work has been recognized by numerous awards including the 2017 American Crystallographic Association Margaret C. Etter Early Career Award, 2019 American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Young Investigator Award, the 2018 Cozzarelli Prize from the National Academy of Sciences for the best paper (Class II, Biological Sciences) published in PNAS. She has also received prestigious awards to support this work as a 2012 Pew Biomedical Scholar and a 2016 Burroughs Wellcome Pathogenesis of Infectious Diseases Awardee.”
“Dr. Dunham’s research has centered on building a fundamental understanding of diverse ribosomal quality control mechanisms in gene expression. These have included intrinsic mechanisms such as the process of frameshifting, which is essential for prokaryotic and viral gene expression, as well as exogenous control via novel toxin-antitoxin systems used by bacteria to persist in the face of external stressors such as antibiotic treatment.”
“Dr. Dunham’s outstanding body of work has been recognized by numerous awards including the 2017 American Crystallographic Association Margaret C. Etter Early Career Award, 2019 American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Young Investigator Award, the 2018 Cozzarelli Prize from the National Academy of Sciences for the best paper (Class II, Biological Sciences) published in PNAS. She has also received prestigious awards to support this work as a 2012 Pew Biomedical Scholar and a 2016 Burroughs Wellcome Pathogenesis of Infectious Diseases Awardee.”
2020 Awardee
- Wilbur Lam, MD, PhD (Pediatrics)
2019 Awardee
- Muralidhar Padala, PhD (Surgery) - Pictured above