Sidney Pestka

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Sidney Pestka
National Heart Institute
National Cancer Institute
Roche Institute of Molecular Biology
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

PBL Assay Science

Sidney Pestka (May 29, 1936 – December 22, 2016) was an American

interferons as treatments for major diseases such as hepatitis, multiple sclerosis, and cancer.[1] Pestka was part of the team working on research involving the genetic code, protein synthesis and ribosome function that led to the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine received by Marshall Warren Nirenberg
.

Early life and education

Sidney Pestka was born on May 29, 1936, in the Polish town of Drobin, which is located in what is now known as Płock County ("powiat płocki"). His family emigrated to the United States a few years later. When he was a young boy, he began inventing devices. "It was stimulating to see chemicals change the color of fluids, to construct crystal radios, and to make caramel from sugar—however, my mother’s pots and pans were never the same afterward. It seemed that I constantly thought about new ideas to implement. As a teenager I developed an electronic security key and many other devices, but I did not know about patents at that time."[2] Both his parents encouraged his curiosity; his mother taught him mathematics when he was very young and his father shared his own hobby of building bicycles with basic parts.

In 1957, he graduated summa cum laude from

Marshall W. Nirenberg, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
in 1968 for "breaking the genetic code."

Research

While in the Nirenberg Laboratory, he discovered how the genetic code of the

mRNA is translated into protein through the small ribosomal subunit, a discovery that was contrary to the scientific thinking at that time. This early work helped create new fundamental tenets about the mechanism of protein biosynthesis
and antibiotic action.

In 1966, he moved to the

interferons
. Scientists first observed interferon in the 1950s, and when they learned that human cells secreted the substance it was postulated that interferon could hold the key to beneficial antiviral properties. Pestka became very interested in interferon.

For the next 16 years, he worked ways to produce clinically relevant quantities of interferon at reasonable cost. Among other advances, he developed

Roferon-A, an alpha interferon.[5][citation needed
]

Work

In 1969, he joined the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology in Nutley, New Jersey, where he initiated the work on interferon.

His work with

IFN-α
has led to cancer therapy with interferons and the use of interferon for the treatment of chronic Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C preventing development of liver cancer due to hepatitis. IFN-α is approved for treatment of a number of cancers and is the only approved treatment for advanced melanoma. His developments related to
IFN-β led to its use for the treatment of multiple sclerosis
.

From 1986 to 2011, he served as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Molecular Genetics, Microbiology and Immunology at

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.[1]

Patents

While at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology, he generated a large portfolio of groundbreaking patents for Hoffmann-La Roche. In 1993, he was inducted into the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame. His work is the basis for a number of U.S. and foreign patents. Interferon is a major product of several U.S. and foreign companies many of which license interferon under his patents, including

Berlex
.

Awards and honors

At a

Harvard, and the 2006 Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award,[9] the 2009 Molecular Biology Medal from the National Institutes of Health for his role in deciphering the genetic code and the mechanism of protein synthesis, and the 2010 Edward J. Ill Outstanding Medical Research Scientist Award for Basic Biomedical Research.[10]

Publications

He has published over 600 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He has edited five books, three of which are classic reference books about

interferons in the Methods in Enzymology
series.

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-12-397833-2
    .
  2. ^ 2006 Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award Winner
  3. PMID 284389
    .
  4. PMID 6164056
    .
  5. ^ "C&EN: COVERSTORY - BIOPHARMACEUTICALS". pubs.acs.org. Retrieved 2019-01-10.
  6. ^ 2001 Recipients of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation
  7. ^ Sidney Pestka, M.D.: 2001 Milstein Award Laureate
  8. ^ "Prize Recipients | Warren Alpert Foundation Prize". warrenalpert.org. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
  9. ^ "Sidney Pestka | Lemelson-MIT Program". lemelson.mit.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-09.
  10. ^ "2010 Edward J. Ill Excellence in Medicine Awards® Honorees". www.ejiawards.org. Retrieved 2019-01-09.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sidney_Pestka&oldid=1157948785"