George E. Palade, M.D.

	GEORGE E. PALADE, M.D.
	Professor of Medicine in Residence(Emeritus) Department of Cellular & Molecular Medicine Dean for Scientific Affairs(Emeritus)
	Address:	University of California San Diego School of Medicine - 0602 9500 Gilman Drive La Jolla CA 92093-0602
	Telephone: Fax: E-Mail:	(858) 822-3529 (858) 534-6573 gpalade@ucsd.edu
	Publications

Research Interests

Our laboratory has been actively involved in integrated morphological and biochemical studies of subcellular components already known to exist or discovered in the early 1950's as the result of the introduction of electron microscopy in cell research. The work relied heavily on the development of progressively refined cell fractionation procedures of which the last one is immunoisolation using specific antibody/antigen interactions. These integrated studies supplemented by autoradiography at the electron microscope level and by immunocytochemical procedures have led to the identification of: - the compartments of the secretory (exocytic) pathway; - vesicular carriers at important relays along the pathway; - the energy requiring steps; - and isolation and partial characterization of different classes of vesicular carriers. This body of knowledge has been extended by other laboratories to the endocytic pathway and to the processing of membrane proteins along these different pathways. General principles underlying the process of membrane biogenesis have also been developed during this work.

In recent years the work of our laboratory was concentrated on the vascular endothelium, especially the continuous type of endothelium found in the microvasculature of muscles, myocardium and lungs. It led to the identification of plasmalemmal vesicles or caveolae of this type of endothelium as the transcytotic carriers for macromolecules, especially proteins larger than 20A diameter. It also led to the discovery of macromolecular complexes of lipids and proteins involved in targeting and membrane fusion and fission, present in the cytosol or associated with caveolae in the endothelium. Finally, we have been studying the effect of a number of factors, especially the vascular endothelium growth factor (VEGF), on angiogenesis and modifications of the microvasculature of tumors.

Biography

George Palade received a M.D. from the School of Medicine of the University of Bucharest, Romania; was a member of the faculty of that school until 1945 when he came to the United States for postdoctoral studies. He joined A. Claude at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in 1946 and was appointed assistant professor at Rockefeller in 1948; - progressed from assistant professor to full professor and head of the department until 1973 when he moved to Yale as professor and chair of the Section of Cell Biology. He became a senior investigator and Advisor to the Dean in 1983. In 1990, he moved to UCSD as Professor of Medicine in Residence, and Dean for Scientific Affairs.

He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has received a number of honorary degrees and prizes, which include a Nobel Prize in 1974 (shared with A. Claude and C. de Duve), and the National Medal of Science, USA in 1986.