Media Contact:
Dr. Kenneth Adler, 919/513-1348
Dave Green, 919/513-6662

May 13, 2005

NC State Cell Biologist Wins UNC System’s O. Max Gardner Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dr. Kenneth Adler

Dr. Kenneth Adler, professor of cell biology at North Carolina State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and one of the world’s foremost researchers in the field of airway disease, will be honored today (May 13) with the O. Max Gardner Award, the highest faculty award presented by the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina.

The award is presented each year to faculty from the system’s 16 campuses recognized as having “made the greatest contribution to the welfare of the human race.” The award will be presented to Adler at today’s meeting of the board at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Adler has devoted almost 18 years to research, scholarship and teaching at NC State. As one of the world’s top-ranked biomedical research scientists with more than 20 years of continuous research funding from the National Institutes of Health, his achievements have the potential to positively and significantly impact the lives of people with severe respiratory diseases such as asthma and cystic fibrosis.

Adler has made several important discoveries related to the problems of excess mucus in the airway. Excess mucus clogs the airways of patients with chronic bronchitis, asthma, cystic fibrosis and the common cold, and can lead to some very serious problems in breathing and even to death in some patients. Presently, there are no drugs or effective therapies to treat excess mucus. Adler’s laboratory discovered a protein, the so-called MARCKS protein, which controls this process in the lung, and worked out the detailed molecular pathway by which MARCKS regulates mucus production. In the course of these studies, Adler’s group developed a peptide, or short protein, that has the ability to inhibit the normal function of MARCKS protein. In initial tests, the peptide, named the MANS peptide, was able to block excess mucus in human lung cells grown in test tubes.

When the MANS peptide was tested in animals, it was shown to have the same effect in rodents with diseases similar to human asthma. The scientific paper describing these results, published in the journal Nature Medicine, received worldwide media attention. Efforts are now underway to develop this peptide as the first drug that can directly treat excess mucus in human patients.

Adler has received numerous awards during his tenure at NC State, including a 10-year National Institutes of Health MERIT Award, given to less than 1 percent of researchers nationally; a Holladay Medal for Excellence, the highest award made by NC State in recognition of faculty career accomplishments, in 2004; a 1999 NC State Alumni Association Award for Research Excellence; and a Smith, Kline and Beecham Award for Research Excellence in 1991. He was named an NC State Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor in 1998.

A keystone of his scientific career was the development of a novel cell-culture system for growing lung cells from humans or other animals. He has published more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals and is sought out as both a speaker for many national and international venues each year and for numerous review panels and editorial boards. His focus on training both Ph.D. students and post-doctoral fellows has added dozens of well-trained scientists to our community. He has garnered support from the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences for such training programs.

Adler is a member of the American Thoracic Society, the American Society for Cell Biology, the American Society of Investigative Pathology, and Phi Zeta, the honor society of veterinary medicine.

Adler joined the faculty at NC State in 1987 as an associate professor. In 1990, he was named professor in the Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences. Prior to joining the faculty at NC State, Adler held assistant professor and research assistant professor positions in the University of Vermont’s College of Medicine.

Adler received his Ph.D. in cell biology from the University of Vermont in 1978, his master’s in biology from Adelphi University in 1975, and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Queens College in 1969.

Adler is the seventh NC State faculty member to win the O. Max Gardner Award in the past 10 years. Other NC State winners are:

• Dr. Bruce Weir, William Neal Reynolds Professor of Statistics and Genetics, 2003
• Dr. Joseph DeSimone, William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at NC State and UNC-Chapel Hill, 2000
• Dr. Jim Riviere, Burroughs Wellcome Fund Distinguished Professor in Veterinary Pharmacology, 1999
• Dr. B. Jayant Baliga, Distinguished University Professor of Engineering, 1998
• Dr. Wayne R. Skaggs, William Neal Reynolds Professor and Distinguished University Professor of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, 1997
• Dr. Ernest Hodgson, William Neal Reynolds Professor of Toxicology, 1996

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