2008 Recipient of the Earl P. Benditt Award

Shaun R. Coughlin, M.D., Ph.D.
Director, Cardiovascular Research Institute
University of California, San Francisco

Dr. Couglin presented his lecture, Protease-activated receptors in vascular biology, on Monday, April 7 at Vascular Biology 2008 in San Diego, California.

Award Background Information (from the 2007 NAVBO Spring Newsletter):
The NAVBO Meritorious Awards Committee and Council have chosen Dr. Shaun R. Coughlin as the 2008 Recipient of the Earl P. Benditt Award in recognition for his pioneering research and discoveries on molecular mechanisms of thrombosis and vascular signal transduction. Dr. Coughlin will present the Benditt Lecture and receive the award, NAVBO’s highest honor, at Vascular Biology 2008 in San Diego, April 5-9.

Dr. Coughlin is the Director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute, and Professor of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). He received his Ph.D. in 1981 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1982. He then obtained his postdoctoral training with Lewis (Rusty) Williams at UCSF and worked on signal transduction of platelet-derived and fibroblast growth factors. Dr.
Coughlin joined the faculty of UCSF in 1986.

He is the recipient of numerous honors and awards. In 2004, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences for “numerous contributions to the study of signaling mechanisms that are important in cardiovascular biology and disease.” He has authored more than one hundred scientific publications in the area of vascular biology.

Dr. Coughlin is best known for his research on the coagulation protein thrombin. He defined the molecular basis of how thrombin functions as an intercellular signal and in the process described a new cell-surface signaling mechanism: the protease-activated receptors (PARs). From his work, it is now clear that proteases act on PARs at exceedingly low concentrations to cleave the N-terminus and thereby create a tethered-ligand, which then activates the receptor to induce intracellular signaling events. A family of PAR proteins regulate blood clotting, platelet activation, vascular development, cell proliferation, inflammation and vascular permeability. These advances have resulted in a better understanding of major vascular diseases such as atherosclerosis and stroke. This work also paved a way for the development of novel therapeutic agents to control abnormal blood clotting for the prevention of heart
attacks and stroke.

Please join us at Vascular Biology in April 2008 to celebrate Dr. Coughlin’s important contributions to our field as the Earl P. Benditt Award recipient.

The Earl P. Benditt Award was initiated by NAVBO in 1999 to honor a “forefather” of vascular biology. The award recognizes an individual who has made an outstanding discovery or developed a concept that has been seminal to our understanding of vascular biology or pathology. Information concerning Dr. Earl P. Benditt, the award and past recipients can be found at http://www.navbo.org/Bendittinfo.htm.