Dr. Alan Aderem
Director, Institute for Systems Biology
Ph.D., Biophysics and Biology
University of Cape Town, 1979
Dr. Alan Aderem, ISB cofounder and Director, is an internationally recognized immunologist and cell biologist who plays a central role in defining the scientific direction of the Institute and is responsible for overseeing the integration of the wide variety of disciplines within the organization. Aderem also leads a scientific team investigating the roles of the immune system in health and disease.
Dr. Aderem and his team of researchers focus on the innate immune system--the system responsible for the body's defense in the first hours of an encounter with a potential pathogen. The innate immune system also initiates local and sometimes systemic inflammatory responses that alert the body to the presence of potential threats and guides the development of subsequent adaptive immune responses that evolve in the weeks following infection. An uncontrolled inflammatory response can also lead to autoimmunity and atherosclerosis, diseases also being studied by Dr. Aderem's team.
Dr. Aderem conducted his early studies of the immune system at The Rockefeller University in New York, where he served as head of the Laboratory of Signal Transduction. During this time, he combined his early research in cell biology with immunology to describe the way cells communicate with one another. He began a series of studies investigating the function of macrophages--white blood cells that have a critical role in the host response to infection. Macrophages are also implicated in atherosclerosis, cancer, and autoimmune disease. Aderem has made seminal contributions to the understanding of the communication networks within the cells that lead to the internalization and killing of pathogens, and the coordination of the ensuing inflammatory response.
In 1996, Dr. Aderem moved to Seattle where he held appointments in the Departments of Immunology and Medicine at the University of Washington. In 2000, Dr. Aderem co- founded the Institute for Systems Biology with Drs. Leroy Hood and Ruedi Aebersold. The interdisciplinary environment within the Institute for Systems Biology allows Dr. Aderem to use the information encoded within the human genome to define the highly complex regulatory networks upon which the immune response is predicated. His long term goals are to develop new approaches to predictive and preventive medicine by improving methods of vaccine development and drugs to combat infectious diseases.
Dr. Aderem's awards and honors include a MERIT Award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a Pew Scholars award, and awards from the Burroughs Welcome Fund and the American Heart Association. Dr. Aderem has organized a number of scientific meetings, and serves on the Advisory committees of several Foundations and companies.
Internationally, he was appointed Chair of the Parliamentary Review Commission of the Medical Research Council of South Africa in 2001 and 1996, and is currently a science advisor to the South African government. Dr. Aderem´s long-term interests include diseases afflicting citizens of developing countries, including AIDS and tuberculosis. He serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative; the Science Steering Committee of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise; the International Advisory Board of the Management Committee of the Centre for Integrative Systems Biology at Imperial College, London; and as an Advisory Board Member of the International Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University.
Selected Honors and Awards:
- 2006 - Co-chair, Keystone Symposia on Systems Biology
- 2000-2004 - Scholar Award, Burroughs Wellcome Molecular Parasitology Award
- 2003 - Chairman; Gordon Conference on Phagocyte Function
- 1998 - Richard Blandau Teaching Award
- 1995 -2005 - MERIT Award from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
- 1992 - 1996 - Paul Ehrlich Chair, Rockefeller University
- 1986-1990 - Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences
- 1990-1995 - Established Investigator of the American Heart Association
- 1982-1985 - Bristol-Myers Squibb Fellow
- 1979 - Bronte Stewart Research Award
- 1976-1979 - University of Cape Town Research Scholarship
- 1976-1979 - MRC Scholarship
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