3 minute read
Health Notes
from July 8, 2022
by Ladue News
HEALTH NOTES Welcome to the Academy
By Connie Mitchell Photo courtesy of Washington university
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Dr. Daniel Goldberg, a professor of molecular microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, recently received one of the highest honors bestowed in the science community: He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, a nonprofit society of distinguished scholars to whose ranks their peers add scientists for outstanding research contributions.
Goldberg, the David M. and Paula L. Kipnis Distinguished Professor in the school’s Division of Infectious Diseases, is internationally known for his work in advancing drug development for malaria treatments. By studying the basic biology of malaria parasites, he identified a group of proteins called plasmepsins that play a key role in the parasites’ ability to live inside red blood cells. He also identified several compounds that inhibit these plasmepsins and is exploring whether they can be developed as drugs.
“What excites me most about my work is the scientific odyssey that I get to undertake with each of the really talented young people in the lab,” Goldberg says. “Sharing in their discoveries, as well as their scientific and personal development, is the greatest privilege of the job.”
In addition to identifying new targets for antimalarial drug development, Goldberg and his team found a toxin that the malaria parasite puts out into the patient’s bloodstream to cause leaky blood vessels, which are a hallmark of severe malaria. “We have figured out how this molecule works, which gives us a clear idea of how to treat these terrible malaria complications,” he says. “Malaria is a parasitic infection that kills over 600,000 people a year, mostly children in Africa. We desperately need new treatments.”
Goldberg has served in many roles at the university, including as a past co-director of the Division of Infectious Diseases, as director of the medical scientist training program and as a member of the executive council of the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, according to a university press release. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the American Association of Physicians. His many honors include the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’s prestigious C.C. and Alice Wang Award in Molecular Parasitology. He also was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator for 20 years.
Goldberg is one of 120 newly elected U.S. members of the National Academy of Sciences and the only Washington University faculty member elected to the academy this year. “I’m pleased that my scientific colleagues regard my work highly,” he says. “It gives Washington University more recognition as a great place to do scientific research.” ln
– DR. DANIEL GOLDBERG
Washington University School of Medicine, 660 S. Euclid Ave., St. Louis, medicine.wustl.edu
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