Thanks to cutting edge developments in neuroscience, the Jacob Javits Award has been presented for a second time to Anthony Auerbach, professor of physiology and biophysics.
Auerbach was awarded $4.63 million for his research on synoptic receptors and their interactions with drugs.
"Scientists do not understand how drugs actually work," he said. "The research seeks to understand how the receptor runs into action."
Right now, the main question is how a drug affects a protein, according to Auerbach.
"The specific kind (of synaptic receptors) that we study have a hole going down the middle. The hole is normally closed by a gate," he said. "When the transmitter molecules bind to the receptor, the gate moves out of the way and the ions go through the hole, and that activates the cell."
The idea is comparable to the way a car works, Auerbach explained. Someone that studies cars knows that when the gas pedal is pressed, it triggers a response from one part of the car to another. The mechanic or engineer dealing with the car knows the process of what happens between pressing the gas and making the wheels turn. Similarly, Auerbach's research is trying to find the mechanics of gated synaptic receptors.
"The problem is that everything happens so fast you can't really measure it," he said.
Proteins are like machines, Auerbach explained, calling them nano-machines because of their nanometer size. The drugs effect the operation of the moving parts of the nano-machines. The research has found a way to probe the timing of the intermediate events, according to Auerbach.
"We have figured out this fancy way of getting not the time, but the sequence. What happens first, what happens second, what happens third, what happens fourth, what happens fifth," he said. "We can line up different things taking place in the protein in sequence."
While Auerbach does not believe the findings have a direct application, he is optimistic that the information will be useful in understanding the relationship between drugs and proteins.
"What our research is doing is taking one protein and understanding how that one drugs works," he said. "Eventually I am sure that other proteins will work similarly to the ones that we are studying. We are the first ones to do it."
According to Auerbach, the information would be useful in bioengineering proteins. Down the road, there could be engineering in proteins.
"We are just working out the basic principles," he said. "We are still in a stage of gathering basic knowledge. We are finding surprising things."
The Jacob Javits Award is a seven-year grant given to candidates who have made significant advancements in neurological science. The person who seems most likely to produce the most progress in seven years is bestowed the award. Auerbach first won the award in 2000, which was in the amount of $2.7 million, according to a press release.
Auerbach, a professor who has been working at UB since 1981, appears to be a very deserving recipient.
"My ultimate goal is to contribute to the book of knowledge. My job as a scholar is to find out basic information about nature. That is my primary objective," Auerbach said. "Applied things will happen with this basic knowledge down the road. My emphasis is not on the application, my emphasis is on pure knowledge."
