School Notes: School of Medicine
July/August 2012

Scientists elected to national academy

Jorge E. Galán, the Lucille P. Markey Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis, chair of the medical school’s Section of Microbial Pathogenesis, and professor of cell biology, was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) on May 1, one of the world’s most prestigious honors that can be bestowed on a scientist. Galán is renowned for his research in the cell biology, biochemistry, immunobiology, and structural biology of the bacterial pathogens Salmonella andCampylobacter, which together cause most of the world’s food-borne illness. In a signature line of work, Galán and colleagues have thoroughly characterized the Salmonella “needle complex,” a syringe-like organelle through which the bacterium injects bacterial proteins into host cells during infection, modulating the function of those cells for its own advantage. Also elected to the NAS from Yale is John Carlson, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and an authority on insect olfaction. Carlson’s group discovered a family of 60 genes that encode odorant receptors in Drosophila, and used this knowledge to engineer Drosophilaantennae to express olfactory receptors of the malaria-carrying mosquito Anopheles gambiae. With this system, Carlson and colleagues have compiled an inventory of odorant molecules found in human sweat that attract the Anopheles vector. Mosquito traps and repellents based on these findings are now being tested in various locations on the African continent.

Cancer specialist honored

Ronald R. Salem, Lampman Professor of Surgery, professor of diagnostic radiology, and chief of the medical school’s section of surgical oncology, is the recipient of the 2011 David J. Leffell Prize for Clinical Excellence, which recognizes a faculty member who exemplifies clinical expertise, skilled teaching, and the highest standards of care and compassion for patients. Salem’s accomplishments since his arrival at Yale 22 years ago include establishing the Oncologic and General Surgery group, now one of the busiest clinical practices in the Department of Surgery. A specialist in treating pancreatic cancer, Salem is an expert in performing the Whipple procedure, in which the head of the pancreas is removed.

Correction:
In the May/June School Notes, this column misspelled the word “Mendelian” in describing a family of genetic disorders and a new center to study them. The center’s correct name is the Center for Mendelian Genomics at Yale.