Professor Alan Tall
We are pleased to announce that Professor Alan Tall has been selected as the recipient of the 2017 EAS Anitschkow Award.
About the Laureate
Alan Tall MB BS is the Tilden-Weger-Bieler Professor of Medicine and head of the Division of Molecular Medicine in the Department of Medicine of Columbia University. Dr. Tall is internationally recognized for his work on plasma lipoproteins and atherosclerosis. Dr. Tall discovered mutations in the cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) gene that are associated with dramatically increased HDL levels and reduced LDL levels, establishing the role of CETP in the regulation of human lipoproteins and identifying CETP as a potential therapeutic target.
Dr. Tall has done research on the ATP binding cassette transporters ABCA1 and ABCG1 that promote cholesterol efflux from macrophage foam cells to apoA-1 and HDL particles, respectively. This work has also identified a key role of cholesterol efflux pathways in regulating the proliferation of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells and the production of pro-atherogenic myeloid cells and platelets. Recently the Tall laboratory has focused efforts on understanding the mechanisms underlying the association of human GWAS variants with plasma lipoproteins and coronary heart disease. This has led to an elucidation of the role of a scaffolding protein TTC39B in the ubiquitination and turnover of LXR, with impact on HDL levels, steato-hepatitis and atherosclerosis.
In recognition of his work, Dr Tall was the recipient of the Irvine Page Award, the Robert I. Levy Lectureship and the Distinguished Scientist Award of the American Heart Association.