Biochemist Garners National Lipid Award

William Dowhan, Ph.D., holder of the John S. Dunn Sr. Chair in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, will receive the prestigious American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Avanti Award in Lipids in San Diego in April.

William Dowhan, Ph.D.

Dowhan, who also is a faculty member in the UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston, will be the sixth recipient of the $3,000 award.

Dowhan came from Harvard to join the Medical School faculty 32 years ago. His research over the years has pushed the envelope in our understanding of the molecular basis of cell processes and the unrecognized roles lipids play in those processes.

"Probably the major part of this award comes out of the results we got using mutant strains of bacteria and yeast to define the role of lipids in specific cellular processes," he said.

The specific lipids that Dowhan works with are phospholipids, as opposed to fatty acids, cholesterol or triglycerides. Phospholipids are different because they have a charged portion and a fat portion. Because of that property, they form a structure, which defines a cell membrane.

According to Dowhan, scientists found out in the 1970s and '80s that phospholipids also are involved as metabolic regulators. They synchronize various processes in the cell.

"Through our work, we now know that individual phospholipid molecules are integral parts of various important cellular processes, like the replication of DNA, cell division, assembly of proteins, protein function, and the ways that proteins fold into a proper threedimensional structure that defines their function. If proteins don't fold properly, they aren't functional," he said.

A number of diseases result from proteins misfolding, including cystic fibrosis, mad cow disease and Alzheimer's disease.

"The dysfunctional proteins in these diseases are membrane proteins," Dowhan said. "The fact that we know that specific lipids are involved in the folding of membrane proteins may give us clues to the cure of these types of diseases."

By Colleen, O'Brien, Medical School