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Colin L. Masters

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Colin L. Masters
Born (1947-02-05) 5 February 1947 (age 77)
Perth, Western Australia
NationalityAustralian
EducationUniversity of Western Australia (MB BS 1970, MD 1977)
Known forneurodegenerative diseases
AwardsPotamkin Prize (1990)
King Faisal International Prize in Medicine (1997)
Scientific career
Fieldsneuropathology
InstitutionsNINDS (1977-1981)
Heidelberg University (1981-2)
University of Western Australia (1981-9)
University of Melbourne (1989-)

Colin Louis Masters MD FAA AO (born 5 Feb 1947 in Perth, Western Australia) is an Australian neuropathologist who researches Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. He is laureate professor of pathology at the University of Melbourne.[1][2]

Career

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Masters studied medicine at the University of Western Australia.[3] He opted for an extra year of pre-medical studies in 1967, which he spent doing neuropathology research,[4] and graduated M.B. B.S. in 1970. He completed his M.D. in medical neuropathology in 1977 after research fellowships at the University of Western Australia and Massachusetts General Hospital. After positions as visiting scientist at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and Humboldt fellow at Heidelberg University, he returned to Western Australia and Royal Perth Hospital in 1981 as a clinician-scientist. In 1989 he relocated to the University of Melbourne where he spent the rest of his career as consultant pathologist and professor of pathology, becoming laureate professor in 2002 and serving for six years as associate dean of research at the medical and dental school.[3]

Scientific achievements

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Masters and his erstwhile colleague from Heidelberg Konrad Beyreuther were the first to characterize the amyloid protein that forms the cerebral plaques observed in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Down's Syndrome (DS, also known as trisomy 21).[5] Known as amyloid beta (Aβ), this peptide is derived from amyloid precursor protein (APP), which was subsequently mapped to the region of chromosome 21 that is altered in DS.[6] The notion that Aβ causes AD, called the amyloid hypothesis, gained force from genetic studies that traced familial forms of the disease to variations in the APP gene.[7] Masters became a prominent proponent of the amyloid hypothesis, developing strategies for anti-Alzheimer's treatments that suppress the beta secretase and gamma secretase enzymes that cleave APP to form Aβ, or modify the interactions between metal ions and Aβ that are important for its toxic effects. Despite two decades of intensive research, however, these approaches have not yielded useful drugs.[8]

Awards

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Masters and Beyreuther both received Max Planck Research Awards [de] in 1991.[9] They also jointly won the 1990 Potamkin Prize[10] and the 1995 Zülch Award [de].[11] In 1997 they were awarded the King Faisal International Prize in Medicine, together with James F. Gusella, for contributions to the understanding of neurodegenerative diseases.[12] Masters won the Florey Medal in 2002.[13] In 2006, he was awarded the Grand Hamdan International Award for Medical Sciences in the field of Molecular and Cellular Pathology of Neurological Disorders.[14] He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Alzheimer's Disease Research from the Alzheimer's Association.[15] He is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, the Royal College of Pathologists in England, and the Royal College of Pathologists, Australia.[3] He was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (FAHMS) in 2015.[16] He is Honorary Doctor of Letters of the University of Western Australia (2008).[1] He was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia on Australia Day, 2017.[17]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Prof Colin Masters". The University of Melbourne. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  2. ^ "Masters, Colin L. (1947-) - People and organisations". Trove. 11 December 1947. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  3. ^ a b c Walker, Rosanne (26 March 2007). "Biographical entry - Encyclopedia of Australian Science". Masters, Colin Louis. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  4. ^ "Colin Masters Interview - Special Topic of Alzheimer's Disease". ScienceWatch.com. 25 May 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  5. ^ Masters CL, Simms G, Weinman NA, Multhaup G, McDonald BL, Beyreuther K (1985). "Amyloid plaque core protein in Alzheimer disease and Down syndrome". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 82 (12): 4245–9. doi:10.1073/pnas.82.12.4245. PMC 397973. PMID 3159021.
  6. ^ Tanzi RE, Bertram L (2005). "Twenty Years of the Alzheimer's Disease Amyloid Hypothesis: A Genetic Perspective". Cell. 120 (4). Elsevier BV: 545–555. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2005.02.008. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 15734686.
  7. ^ Goate A; et al. (1991). "Segregation of a missense mutation in the amyloid precursor protein gene with familial Alzheimer's disease". Nature. 349 (6311). Springer Nature: 704–706. doi:10.1038/349704a0. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 1671712. S2CID 4336069.
  8. ^ Makin S (2018). "The amyloid hypothesis on trial". Nature. 559 (7715). Springer Nature: S4–S7. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-05719-4. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 30046080.
  9. ^ "Max-Planck-Forschungspreis" [Max Planck Research Award]. Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (in German). Archived from the original on 25 September 2009. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  10. ^ "Awards History". American Academy of Neurology. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  11. ^ "Zülch Prize". Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. 26 September 2018. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  12. ^ "Professor Colin L. Masters". King Faisal Prize. 10 October 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  13. ^ "CSL Florey Medal 2002 – Professor Colin Masters". Australian Institute of Policy and Science. Archived from the original on 30 September 2018. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  14. ^ "Prof. Colin Masters". Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  15. ^ Strobel, Gabrielle (13 September 2006). "Madrid: Pooled Antibody Cocktail, New Metal Quencher". Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  16. ^ "Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Health & Medical Sciences - October 2015" (PDF). Australian Academy of Health & Medical Sciences. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  17. ^ "2017 Australia Day honours list: Julia Gillard appointed an AC". The Sydney Morning Herald. 25 January 2017. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
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