The Committee on Awards is pleased to present part two of a three-part series on the 2010 General Meeting award laureates.

Abbott Laboratories Award for Clinical and Diagnostic Immunology

Gene M. Shearer, Ph.D., Chief, Cell Mediated Immunity Section, Experimental Immunology Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Md., has been selected the 2010 laureate of the Abbott Laboratories Award for Clinical and Diagnostic Immunology for his research on HIV pathogenesis.

Shearer received his Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and began his career at the NIH in 1972. During the AIDS epidemic, Shearer's research showed that the HIV infection leads to biologically important CD4+ T cell dysfunction prior to the loss of such cells and the onset of the clinical disease. His work showed the important role for immune dysregulation in HIV pathogenesis. Shearer defined the molecular mechanisms underlying such dysfunction and developed novel therapeutic approaches using HIV peptides to restore HIV specific immunity.

"Shearer predicted that HIV averted immune destruction by initiating progression from a more protective TH1 response to a TH2 response, and he was the first to grasp the importance of the innate immune response in control of HIV infection and the negative impact of interferon alpha," states Shearer's nominator, Alan L. Landay of Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Ill. Recently, his work has shown that HIV drives immune activation and
inflammation, which promotes the development of AIDS and non-AIDS comorbidities. "He has repeatedly made insightful scientific observations that have shaped our understanding of the immune response to HIV and has provided a focus for development of immune-based therapy and vaccines," adds Landay.

Gen-Probe Joseph Public Health Award

The Gen-Probe Joseph Public Health Award was established in memory of J. Mehsen Joseph, Ph.D., who dedicated his life toward the advancement of both microbiology and public health. J. Michael Miller, Ph.D., D(ABMM), Associate Director for Science, National Center for Zoonotic, Vectorborne, and Enteric Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Director, Microbiology Technical Services, LLC, Dunwoody, GA, has been selected to receive the 2010 Gen-Probe Joseph Public Health Award for integrating microbiology into the practice of public health.

Miller has been a consistent advocate for collaboration between the private and public sectors to ensure results are generated in a timely manner in order to assess and manage an infectious disease emergency. He is credited with leadership in the design and development of the U.S. plan for a bioterrorism laboratory response for both clinical and public health laboratories. In addition, Miller is one of the founding fathers of the National Laboratory Training Network having worked with the Association of State and Territorial Public Health Laboratory Directors on the development and implementation of the microbiology laboratory training in the U.S. which replaced the CDC's training program.

At the CDC, Miller has been able to react and develop strategies that focus on both national and international human, animal-associated, and current emerging diseases. He initiated a Web-based forum for laboratory directors (ClinMicroNet) worldwide to keep them up to date on what was occurring in the lab and to facilitate discussion of key issues in the field. It provides real-time feedback to issues confronted in public health, infectious disease, and laboratory medicine. "He holds a wealth of information in virtually all areas of microbiology and has been visionary in the profession and has championed public health in accomplishment and exemplary leadership," states his nominator, Robert C. Jerris of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Ga.

GlaxoSmithKline International Member of the Year Award

Hans Wolf-Watz, Ph.D., Professor, Umeå University, Sweden, has been selected the 2010 laureate of the GlaxoSmith- Kline International Member of the Year Award. Wolf-Watz is honored for his seminal work in the elucidation of the pathogenesis of Yersinia, as well as his international collaborations, which have resulted in fundamental progress in the field.

The human pathogenic Yersinia spp. (Y. pestis, Y. pseudotuberculosis, and Y. enterocolitica) have in common a large plasmid, which is essential for their virulence. This plasmid, which is called pYV, encodes major virulence determinants including a type III protein secretion system (TTSS). Wolf-Watz was the first to propose that TTSSs are unique in their ability to inject proteins into their host cells. His proposal was based on his observation that Yersinia outer proteins (Yop) delivery into cells required bacterial contact and specific proteins. The proteins were not required for Yop secretion but were required for their injection into host cells. This seminal finding has been critical to the understanding of the biology of host-pathogen interaction of many bacteria.

Wolf-Watz was dually nominated by Jorge E. Galan, Yale University, and Klaus Akotries, Albert- Ludwigs Universitat Freiburg, Germany. Galan states, "In my opinion, this discovery was seminal in the field because it represented a paradigm shift establishing a new concept that is now well accepted and that applies not just to TTSSs but also to other bacterial protein delivery machines such as Type IV or Type VI secretion systems."

Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Young Investigator Award

The 2010 Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Young Investigator Award will be presented to Miriam Barlow, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of California, Merced, for her work on antimicrobial resistance. Her research spans the fields of microbiology, molecular biology, evolution, population biology, biochemistry, chemistry, and clinical microbiology. Barlow received her Ph.D. and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Rochester, N.Y.

Barlow's thesis focused on developing and applying an entirely novel experimental method for predicting the natural evolution of antibiotic resistance genes. Her interest in evolution led her to use phylogenetic approaches to study antibiotic resistance. She worked with thesis advisor, Barry G. Hall, Ph.D., and amassed a large volume of work on how β-lactamase resistance genes evolved. Her first paper showed that some preantibiotic-era strains of Citrobacter freundii were antibiotic sensitive and carried functional, yet silent, resistance genes in their chromosomes. Barlow went on to show that these antibiotic resistance genes were a threat and with Hall and colleagues developed tools that could screen for and isolate novel cryptic resistance genes. A patent was awarded for this method.

Currently, Barlow is using microcalorimetry to rapidly assess antibiotic resistance in infection and has been able to distinguish antibioticresistant from antibiotic-sensitive pathogens. Her research also showed that different pathogens have unique signals which make it possible to identify the organisms. She is developing differential scanning calorimetry and isothermal titrative calorimetry as methods for identifying clinical isolates and characterizing their resistance phenotypes. "This approach should decrease the time used for these assays from three days to three hours, a gain in time that could be critical for treatment of many antibiotic-resistant infections," remarks her nominator, David Ojcius of the University of California, Merced.

Merck Irving S. Sigal Memorial Award

The Merck Irving S. Sigal Memorial Award is presented in memory of Irving S. Sigal, who was instrumental in the early discovery of therapies to treat HIV/AIDS, to recognize excellence in basic research in medical microbiology and infectious diseases. The 2010 award laureates are Ekaterina Heldwein, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, and Alexander R. Horswill, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City.

Ekaterina Heldwein received her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, where she stayed for a short postdoctoral fellowship. Her crystallographic studies on the bacterial protein BmrR revealed the first structure of any multidrug binding transcription regulator in the free state as well as bound to a drug and to DNA. This groundbreaking work was published in Cell and Nature and provided significant insight into the functions of BmrR.

Heldwein completed her second postdoctoral fellowship at Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, where she studied viral pathogenesis. She focused specifically on herpesvirus entry mechanisms and her research showed the structure of HSV-1 gB. "Her unraveling of the structure of the ectodomain of the glycoprotein gB was a major breakthrough; the structure provided unprecedented insight into the function of this critical fusion protein," states her nominator, Abraham L. Sonenshein of Tufts University School of Medicine.

Currently, Heldwein is an Assistant Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine, where she is working on the biochemical and biological structure of gB and other components of the viral entry apparatus. Sonenshein remarks, "She is devoted to solving very difficult problems in infectious disease using the most sophisticated methods of biochemistry and biophysics. She is one of the few structural biologists to have made a firm commitment to studying in atomic-level detail the mechanisms by which viruses attack host cells."

Alexander R. Horswill received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and completed his postdoctoral fellowship in chemistry at Pennsylvania State University, University Park. As a Ph.D. student, Horswill made significant contributions to understanding the mechanisms of propionate degradation in Salmonella. His work resulted in 13 publications, on six of which he was the first author.

During his postdoctoral fellowship, Horswill used protein engineering methods to produce and screen cyclic peptide libraries. These studies lead to an interest in peptide quorum sensing mechanisms in gram-positive microbes. At the University of Iowa, Horswill developed a new research program to investigate the cyclic autoinducing peptides (AIP) made by Staphylococcus aureus. His initial interest was to define the pathway for S. aureus production of AIPs. He also developed tools to biosynthesize the AIP molecule using an engineered intein from cyanobacteria. With a vast supply of AIP, Horswill demonstrated that adding AIP results in the rapid dispersal of established S. aureus biofilms by activating quorum sensing and degrading the biofilm matrix. Recently, a transposon mutagenesis screen performed in his lab revealed a number of novel genes important for biofilm formation. "His findings have opened new avenues of investigation and suggest potential therapeutic approaches for treating S. aureus biofilm infections," stated his nominator, Timothy L. Yahr of the University of Iowa.

bioMérieux Sonnenwirth Award for Leadership in Clinical Microbiology

Patricia Charache, M.D., D(ABMM), Program Director, Quality Assurance and Outcomes Research Programs, Department of Pathology, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., has been selected the 2010 laureate of the bio- Me´rieux Sonnenwirth Award for Leadership in Clinical Microbiology. As an infectious disease physician and a microbiology laboratory director, Charache has impacted clinical microbiology for over 40 years.

Charache directed The Johns Hopkins Microbiology Laboratories from 1973-1993 and is still actively involved. Her work on cytomegalovirus, adenovirus, upper respiratory tract pathogens, and molecular methods for detecting infectious diseases have resulted in more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 17 book chapters, and many editorial board appointments. She has consulted many countries as a representative of the National Academy of Sciences' Board on Science and Technology and served on several federal agencies' committees.

While directing the lab, Charache mentored 12 bench techs who received their Ph.D.'s and an additional 30 who earned their Master's degrees. Charache's nominator, Karen Carroll of The Johns Hopkins University, remarks, "While Dr. Charache is certainly a legend at Johns Hopkins, she has contributed significantly to promoting both microbiology as a discipline and ASM as its premier society, both within the U.S. and internationally." An active ASM volunteer, she has devoted many hours to the boards and committees with issues relating to clinical microbiology and microbiologists-the American Academy of Microbiology, Division C, the Public and Scientific Affairs Board, the American Board of Medical Microbiology, and awards. All aspects of clinical microbiology have benefited from Charache's leadership, dedication, and service.

USFCC/J. Roger Porter Award

The 2010 USFCC/J. Roger Porter Award Laureate is William "Barny" Whitman, Ph.D., Head, Department of Microbiology, University of Georgia, Athens. Whitman is a worldwide recognized expert in methanogens and has made significant contributions also to microbial metabolism, diversity, and taxonomy.

Whitman helped elucidate the unique metabolism of methanogens. He worked with the late David Boone and established the most complete global collection of methanogens which has been incorporated into the American Type Culture Collection. Whitman has also published on the biodiversity and physiology of methanogens. Whitman's publication with the highest scholarly impact was his research on the highperformance liquid chromatography method for determining the G+C mol% content of microorganisms. This work, now the standard, provided microbial taxonomists with a simple method to aid in the characterization and naming of bacterial and archaeal species.

Whitman is also known for his contributions to understanding microbial diversity. His nominator, James T. Staley of the University of Washington, Seattle, states, "One exceptional example of this is his seminal 1998 paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which provided evidence that the biomass of bacteria and archaea was at least equivalent to that of all plants and animals. This was a revelation not only to biologists but to everyone."

Whitman received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. Throughout his career he has volunteered his time and expertise to many organizations and publications, including the ATCC, the International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology, and Bergey's Manual Trust. He is currently Director of the Editorial Office for Bergey's Manual Trust, which is located at the University of Georgia. He has been working tirelessly to ensure that Volumes 3, 4, and 5 of the current edition of Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology are as accurate, complete, and up-to-date as possible.