George Eisenbarth

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George Stephen Eisenbarth (born  September 17, 1947 in Brooklyn , †  November 13, 2012 in Denver ) was an American endocrinologist , immunologist and diabetologist . From 1992 until his death he served as a professor at the University of Colorado and as executive director of its Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes , and was one of the world's leading diabetes researchers of his time.

The main focus of his scientific work was the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes and the development of options for the prediction and prevention of this disease. With his research achievements , for which he was awarded the Banting Medal and the Pasteur-Weizmann / Servier International Prize , among other things , he laid important foundations for understanding type 1 diabetes as an autoimmune disease .

Life

George Eisenbarth was born in the Brooklyn borough of New York in 1947 and graduated from Columbia University in his hometown with a BA in biology in 1969 . After studying medicine at Duke University , where he received his scientific doctorate in physiology / pharmacology in 1974 and an MD in 1975 , he also continued his education there in endocrinology . In 1977 he moved to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda , where he worked in the Department of Biochemical Genetics, headed by Nobel Laureate Marshall Warren Nirenberg , and worked with Anthony Fauci .

In 1979 he returned to Duke University. Three years later he went to the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston , where he established the immunology section. In 1992 he took over a professorship for pediatrics and immunology at the University of Colorado and the position of executive director of the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes , which under his direction has developed into one of the nationally and internationally leading institutions for the treatment and research of diabetes mellitus .

George Eisenbarth was married and had a son and a daughter who is an assistant professor of laboratory medicine and immunology at Yale University . He died in Denver in 2012 from a pancreatic tumor .

Scientific work

George Eisenbarth devoted himself in particular to researching the pathogenetic basis and, based on this, possibilities for the prediction and prevention of type 1 diabetes. During his time at the Joslin Diabetes Center, he dealt with studies on identical twins in which only one of them was sick. In addition, he began to investigate the animal model of the NOD mouse established in Japan . With an article published in 1986 in the journal The New England Journal of Medicine under the title “Type 1 Diabetes: A chronic autoimmune disease”, he postulated the now generally accepted view that type 1 diabetes is chronic from a pathogenetic point of view Autoimmune disease .

At the Barbara Davis Center, he primarily examined the molecular basis of autoimmunity in type 1 diabetes. In doing so, he concentrated in particular on insulin , for which he assumed a central role as an autoantigen . In addition, he initiated extensive cohort studies to identify environmental factors and characterize the autoimmunological processes that are the cause of type 1 diabetes. These include the DAISY ( Diabetes Autoimmunity Study in the Young ) study started in 1993 on around 1,500 children born in Denver and the TEDDY ( Trial to Identify the Environmental Determinants of Diabetes ) study, a multi-center study for the long-term observation of more, started in 2002 than 8,500 newborns in clinics in the USA, Finland , Sweden and Germany .

The most important results of George Eisenbarth's research include the identification and characterization of several autoantigens that are important for the autoimmunity that leads to type 1 diabetes, as well as the establishment of biochemical assays for the detection of autoantibodies directed against these antigens . In addition, he contributed to the development and characterization of various monoclonal antibodies , cell lines and animal models that have found widespread use in diabetes research. These include antibodies against various islet cell proteins, an immunassay to measure the insulin concentration in cell cultures and the description of lymphopenia in the BB rat , a deficiency of lymphocytes in the blood that is characteristic of this animal model .

George Eisenbarth, who published more than 450 scientific publications during his career , was a co-founder and past president of the Immunology of Diabetes Society and was a member of the Brehm Coalition , a group of nine laboratory directors at various universities with the aim of increasing collaboration in the field of diabetes research.

Awards

George Eisenbarth received the Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award from the American Diabetes Association in 1986 , its highest award in 2009 in recognition of his life's work with the Banting Medal, and the Albert Renold Award in 2012 for his contributions to the care and training of young scientists. In addition, he and the French immunologist Lucienne Chatenoud were awarded the Pasteur-Weizmann / Servier International Prize worth 150,000 euros in 2006 . The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) honored him with the David Rumbough Award for Scientific Excellence in 1997 and the Mary Tyler Moore and S. Robert Levine Excellence in Clinical Research Award in 2012 . In January 2013, the JDRF also donated the George Eisenbarth Award for Type 1 Diabetes Prevention in his memory .

Works (selection)

  • Immunotherapy of Diabetes and Selected Autoimmune Diseases. Boca Raton 1989
  • Type I Diabetes: Molecular, Cellular and Clinical Immunology. New York 1996
  • Molecular Mechanisms of Endocrine and Organ Specific Autoimmunity. Austin 1999
  • Immunology of Type 1 Diabetes. New York 2004
  • Immunoendocrinology: Scientific and Clinical Aspects. London 2011

literature

  • Geoff Watts: Obituary: George Stephen Eisenbarth. In: The Lancet . Volume 381, Edition 9862, January 19, 2013, p. 198
  • Mark A. Atkinson: In Memoriam: George S. Eisenbarth, 1947–2012. In: Diabetologia . 56 (3) / 2013. Springer, pp. 435-438, ISSN  0012-186X
  • Alberto Pugliese, Jay S. Skyler: George S. Eisenbarth: Insulin and Type 1 Diabetes. In: Diabetes Care . 36 (6) / 2013. American Diabetes Association, pp. 1437-1442, ISSN  0149-5992
  • Graham A. Hitman: Type 1 Diabetes from Bench to Bedside: A Dedication to George Eisenbarth. In: Diabetic Medicine. 30 (2) / 2013. Wiley, p. 133, ISSN  0742-3071
  • Philip ES Palmer: In Memoriam: George Eisenbarth. In: Journal of Investigative Medicine. 61 (4) / 2013. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, pp. 693/694, ISSN  1081-5589
  • Jay S. Skyler, Alberto Pugliese: Immunotherapy Trials for Type 1 Diabetes: The Contribution of George Eisenbarth. In: Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics. 15 (S2) / 2013. Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., pp. 213-220, ISSN  1520-9156

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Eisenbarth, George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Eisenbarth, George Stephen (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American endocrinologist, immunologist, and diabetologist
DATE OF BIRTH September 17, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn
DATE OF DEATH November 13, 2012
Place of death Denver