Research at Audubon

Leading researchers from Columbia University are moving into the Russ Berrie Medical Science Pavilion as members of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, the Institute of Cancer Genetics and the Columbia Genome Center. They will occupy laboratories with the most advanced technology available to conduct their investigations.

The Columbia University researchers profiled here are among those moving into state-of-the-art laboratory space in the Russ Berrie Medical Science Pavilion.

Dr. Domenico Accili

Dr. Accili, professor of medicine at Columbia University’s College of Physicians & Surgeons (P&S), was recruited from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). One major factor that brought him to Columbia was the Berrie Pavilion facility. “It’s a first-rate clinical and research center, with a number of superb colleagues whose interests span the whole spectrum of genetic research,” he says. “Together we can make significant contributions to unraveling the causes of diabetes, obesity, and cancer.”

Dr. Accili is the new director of research for the diabetes unit of the Columbia University Department of Medicine’s Division of Endocrinology. “Dr. Accili’s research is of particular importance in determining the causes of insulin resistance that accompany Type II [adult onset] diabetes in humans,” says Dr. Rudolph Leibel, co-director of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center.

Dr. Accili predicts that in the next few years advances in basic research will have a significant impact on the ways in which diabetes is diagnosed and treated.

Dr. Riccardo Dalla-Favera

Dr. Dalla-Favera, Uris Professor of Pathology and P&S professor of genetics and development, is a leading figure in the study of the genetics of lymphoma. He is also the director of Columbia University’s Institute of Cancer Genetics. The recently formed institute will occupy the third floor and part of the fourth floor of the Berrie Pavilion. “The strategy of the new program will be to assemble a group of leading research laboratories pursuing independent cancer-related research while exploiting a shared organizational and cultural framework,” says Dr. Dalla-Favera. “The program includes researchers with common interests who will share the state-of-the-art technology of the new space.” The program is composed of six existing labs and two recently recruited researchers.

Dr. Isidore Edelman

Dr. Edelman, P&S professor emeritus of biochemistry and molecular biophysics, is director of the Columbia Genome Center (CGC). The center is part of the worldwide effort to map the human genome. “The CGC occupies the fifth floor, three-quarters of the fourth floor, and some of the first floor of the Berrie Pavilion,” says Dr. Edelman. “It’s a wonderful facility, but the true test will be what we accomplish here.”

Dr. Edelman was recently awarded the Robert H. Williams Distinguished Leadership Award by the Endocrine Society. The award recognizes Dr. Edelman’s “outstanding scholarship, his landmark contributions in establishing the foundations of steroid hormone action, and his leadership role in bridging the disciplines of biophysics, biochemistry, endocrinology, and molecular biology.”

Dr. Argiris Efstratiadis

Dr. Efstratiadis, Higgins Professor of Genetics and Development, is widely recognized for important contributions in eukaryotic molecular genetics. He and his colleagues developed cDNA cloning, allowing for the sequencing and characterization of the structure of an eukaryotic messenger RNA. Dr. Efstratiadis was also a member of a team that first constructed a bacterium capable of synthesizing insulin. His laboratory’s current focus is mouse developmental genetics, with emphasis on the role of growth factors in normal development and malignancy, specifically in breast cancer.

Dr. Efstratiadis has also served as director of Columbia’s Human Genome Center. He is currently affiliated with the Institute of Cancer Genetics.

Dr. T. Conrad Gilliam

Dr. Gilliam is internationally known as a major leader in the field of medical human genetics. He was responsible for determining the locations of the genetic defects resulting in spinal muscular atrophy and of an X-chromosome linked form of dystonia, and for identifying the gene underlying Wilson’s disease, retinitis pigmentosa, and a rare form of epilepsy. He has also been at the forefront of the genetic analysis of complex neuropsychiatric disorders, particularly bipolar affective disorder. Dr. Gilliam’s current research focuses on understanding the genetic underpinnings of autism, schizophrenia, and anxiety disorders. Dr. Gilliam is currently the Borne Professor of Genetics and Development and co-director of the Columbia Genome Center.

Dr. Rudolph Leibel

Dr. Leibel is a professor of pediatrics and medicine, head of the Division of Molecular Genetics, and co-director of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center. He joined Columbia in 1997. He has held academic and research appointments at Harvard, MIT, Cornell, and Rockefeller University. Since 1990, Dr. Leibel has been deputy director of the New York Obesity Research Center and director of the Adipose Tissue/ Molecular Biology Core, also at the New York Obesity Research Center, which is an NIH center. His current research focuses on the molecular genetics and molecular physiology of diabetes and obesity in mice and humans.

Dr. Leibel is involved in a first-of-a-kind research and licensing collaboration between a consortium of three academic centers and a major pharmaceutical firm. The collaboration involves diabetes research conducted at Columbia by Dr. Leibel and two other research organizations in Europe. The research is supported by funding from Eli Lilly and Company. The consortium focuses on the identification of genes responsible for Type II diabetes and obesity.

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