Dr. Robert G. Webster to receive the Bristol-Myers Squibb infectious diseases award for work in understanding and controlling epidemic influenza virus

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (ALSAC)
Wednesday, 20 November 2002

Robert G. Webster, Ph.D., F.R.S., has been selected to receive the Twelfth Annual Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Infectious Diseases Research for his pivotal role in our understanding of the origins, evolution and approaches for control of epidemic influenza virus. Dr. Webster will receive the $50,000 cash prize and a commemorative silver medallion at a dinner held in his honor Dec. 4, 2002 in New York City.

Dr. Webster is the Rose Marie Thomas Chair of the Virology Division of the Department of Infectious Diseases at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. In addition to his position at St. Jude, he is Director of the U.S. Collaborating Center of the World Health Organization (WHO), dealing with the ecology of animal influenza viruses. The center is the world's only laboratory designed to study influenza at the animal-human interface.

"Dr. Webster's contributions to understanding how influenza viruses evolve and create worldwide pandemics cannot be overstated," said Richard Colonno, Ph.D., vice president, Infectious Diseases Drug Discovery, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute. "His discoveries of how and where lethal viruses evolve have had profound effects on the search for methods of influenza virus control."

Born and raised in New Zealand, Dr. Webster received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Microbiology from Otago University. While working toward his Ph.D. at the Australian National University in Canberra, he made his first important contribution to influenza research. As a student in the laboratory of Dr. Stephen Fazekas, Dr. Webster discovered Coomassie Brilliant Blue, the protein stain for quantitating proteins. After receiving his doctorate in 1962, he spent two years as a Fulbright Scholar investigating influenza with Dr. Tommy Francis in the Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. While there, he and collaborator Stephen Fazekas established the immunological basis of the Francis Theory of Original Antigenic Sin that is still valid today. They found that after an initial infection, reinfection (or vaccination) with a new strain of the virus boosted the concentration of antibodies specific for the earlier infecting strain. While these antibodies cross-reacted with the new virus, they had higher affinity for the original infecting strain.

In 1964, Dr. Webster returned to the Australian National University as a Research Fellow. The high levels of toxicity of early influenza vaccines prompted Dr. Webster and colleague Graeme Laver to develop the first subunit influenza vaccine in 1966. This vaccine formed the basis for the vaccine that is currently produced in Australia. Suggestions by Sir Christopher Andrews that influenza viruses in lower animals may be involved in the emergence of human pandemics led Dr. Webster to collaborate with Helio Pereira on studies of the antigenic relationship between influenza A viruses of human and avian origins. Their studies at the World Influenza Center, London, demonstrated the antigenic relationships between Asian/57 (H2N2) human influenza virus and avian influenza viruses, providing the first clues to support the concept that influenza viruses in lower animals may be involved in the emergence of human pandemics.

Dr. Webster began his affiliation with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in 1968. He hypothesized that the A/Hong Kong/68 (H3N2) virus did not arise by accumulation of mutations (antigenic drift) but by reassortment of genetic segments (antigenic shift) between human influenza viruses in humans and lower animals. Discovery of the natural reservoirs of influenza viruses in aquatic birds of the world, and the formal demonstration of reassortment and transmission of influenza virus under simulated natural conditions at the Plum Island Containment Laboratory in New York, confirmed how pandemics emerge.

In 1997, Dr. Webster played an important part in elucidating the source of the H5N1 virus that spread from chickens to humans and killed six of 18 infected humans in Hong Kong. Recent studies on the molecular basis of virulence of these H5N1 viruses show that the NS1 gene enables the virus to escape control by cytokines such as interferon and Tumor Necrosis Factor á (TNF-á). In fact, virulence was associated with toxicity produced by over production of TNF-á and other cytokines and provides a possible mechanism for the virulence of the 1918 Spanish Influenza pandemic. Dr. Webster is currently investigating the structure and function of influenza virus proteins and the development of new vaccines and antivirals. He is also studying influenza viruses in wild birds, a major reservoir of influenza viruses. "The human population is most vulnerable to influenza viruses that have new antigenic properties," says Dr. Webster. "It takes months to prepare an appropriate vaccine and we need to be creating strategic stockpiles of antiviral drugs for the period between detection of a pandemic strain and availability of a vaccine."

The Bristol-Myers Squibb Unrestricted Biomedical Research Grants Program that provides the Infectious Diseases Award was initiated in 1977. The program is celebrating its 25th year, reaching the milestone of $100 million in no-strings-attached funding in six biomedical research areas, including cancer, cardiovascular, infectious diseases, metabolic diseases, neuroscience and nutrition. The Distinguished Achievement Award of $50,000 is awarded annually in each category.

Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global pharmaceutical and related health care products company whose mission is to extend and enhance human life.

For more information, or to contact St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (ALSAC), see their website at: www.stjude.org