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MBL to Honor Noted Malaria Researcher at June 18 Symposium
WOODS HOLE, MA—The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) will hold a symposium to honor a lifetime of contributions by Dr. William Trager to the study of malaria on Saturday, June 18 at 2:00 PM in the MBL's Lillie Auditorium, located on MBL Street in Woods Hole. The symposium will be hosted by Dr. Stephen L. Hajduk, director of the MBL's Program in Global Infectious Diseases, and is supported by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.
Dr. Trager, a Rockefeller University researcher and professor, died in January 2005 at the age of 94. His contributions to the emergence of parasitology as a modern discipline is well-recognized and his success in the cultivation of the parasite Plasmodium falciparium—the most deadly of the four Plasmodium species that cause human malaria—ranks as one of the single most important advances in the field of parasitology. Malaria has a massive impact on human health. Of all the infectious diseases afflicting children, malaria is the deadliest, with over one million children in Africa estimated to die from Plasmodium falciparum malaria each year.
MBL is considered the "home of parasitology" by many and has a rich history in studying the basic biology of parasitism and infectious disease. More than 20 years ago, the laboratory launched the field of molecular parasitology with the establishment of its Biology of Parasitism course, which continuously reinvents itself as it trains new investigators in this ever-expanding field. Most recently, in 2003, the MBL established its interdisciplinary Program in Molecular Pathogenesis and Global Infectious Diseases as part of the Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution.
Featured symposium speakers are: Dr. Irwin Sherman, Professor of Biology Emeritus at the University of California, Riverside; Dr. Larry Simpson, Principal Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles; and Dr. David Fidock, Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.
For additional information, contact series coordinator Trish Halpin at thalpin@mbl.edu, 508-289-7282 or visit http://www.mbl.edu/inside/what/news/events/events_trager.html.
The Marine Biological Laboratory is an internationally known, independent, nonprofit institution dedicated to improving the human condition through creative research and education in the biological, biomedical and environmental sciences. Founded in 1888, the MBL is the oldest private marine laboratory in the Western Hemisphere.
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