Suzanne Cory

Last updated

Suzanne Cory
AC FAA FRS
Born (1942-03-11) 11 March 1942 (age 82)
NationalityAustralian
SpouseJerry Adams
Children2
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsGenetics and the immune system
Institutions

Suzanne Cory (born 11 March 1942) is an Australian molecular biologist. She has worked on the genetics of the immune system and cancer and has lobbied her country to invest in science. She is married to fellow scientist Jerry Adams, also a WEHI scientist.

Contents

Early life and education

Suzanne Cory was raised in the Kew suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. She was educated at Canterbury Girls' Secondary College and University High School, Melbourne. Cory studied at the University of Melbourne where she graduated with a BSc degree in 1964 and an MSc degree in 1965, both in Biochemistry. [1] In 1966, she then went to the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge, England and obtained a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Cambridge in 1968. [2] [3]

Career and research

Cory travelled to the University of Geneva for her post-doctoral studies. While in Geneva, she focused on sequencing the RNA of R17 bacteriophage for the purpose of using it as a model. [4]

In 1971, Cory and her husband began their research at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, located in Melbourne, Australia. The two scientists helped introduce new scientific technology and methods they had been exposed to in Geneva and Cambridge, which helped expand and better the molecular biology research in Australia. They initially chose to study the genetic component of immunity, discovering that antibody genes are a combination of pieces and can be arranged in a variety of ways. This discovery helped explain the diversity of the immune system and its ability to fight a large array of harmful cell invaders. [4]

After a decade of studying the immune system, Cory's lab switched their focus to cancer and the genetic components of various cancers. Her lab discovered the genetic mutations that lead to Burkitt's lymphoma and Follicular lymphoma. [4] [5] One of the main focuses of their cancer cell research is on cell proliferation and cell death. In particular, the oncoprotein Myc and the Bcl-2 protein family are of interest to her current research lab. [6] Bcl-2 is an important family of intracellular proteins that helps regulate apoptosis, or cell suicide. [6] Bcl-2, paired with other regulators, prevents caspases from being activated. [7] The caspases, a type of protease, remain inactive until signaled through a cascade to degrade the proteins that make up a cell. [7] Cory's lab has developed Bcl2-blocking agents called BH3 mimetics, which, when paired with low-dose chemotherapy, have had positive results treating specific types of aggressive lymphomas. [6]

Cory is the immediate past President of the Australian Academy of Science. She was the first-elected female President of the Academy and took office on 7 May 2010 for a four-year term, replacing the former president, Professor Kurt Lambeck. [8]

Cory was the Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), from 1996 until 30 June 2009 and remains a faculty member, having rejoined the institute's Molecular Genetics of Cancer Division. Her current research focuses on genetic changes in blood cancers and the effects of chemotherapeutic drugs on the cancer cells. Cory's work has been published in Blood , The EMBO Journal , Nature , Cell Death & Differentiation , and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . [6]

The Suzanne Cory High School opened in Cory's honour in 2011. [4] The public high school caters to 800 students from grades 9-12. The school is in close proximity to Victoria University, which allows students access to the school's facilities and staff.

In 2021, the Australian Academy of Science created the Suzanne Cory Medal for Biomedical Sciences, awarded for outstanding research in all of the biological sciences. [9]

Awards and honors

Personal life

During her time at the LMB, Cory met Jerry Adams, a scientist from the United States. The two scientists later married and had two daughters.[ citation needed ]

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References

  1. ↑ Entries: Cory, Suzanne - website of The Australian Women's Register
  2. ↑ Professor Suzanne Cory AC FAA FRS - website of the National Portrait Gallery (Australia)
  3. ↑ ID: Suzanne Cory - website ORCID
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Professor Suzanne Cory-AC, PhD, PresAA, FRS | About Us". www.suzannecoryhs.vic.edu.au. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  5. ↑ Adams, J. M.; Gerondakis, S.; Webb, E.; Corcoran, L. M.; Cory, S. (1 April 1983). "Cellular myc oncogene is altered by chromosome translocation to an immunoglobulin locus in murine plasmacytomas and is rearranged similarly in human Burkitt lymphomas". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 80 (7): 1982–1986. Bibcode:1983PNAS...80.1982A. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.7.1982 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   393736 . PMID   6572957.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Research, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical (17 October 2014). "Professor Suzanne Cory". Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  7. 1 2 Cory, Suzanne; Huang, David C. S.; Adams, Jerry M. (1 January 2003). "The Bcl-2 family: roles in cell survival and oncogenesis". Oncogene. 22 (53): 8590–8607. doi: 10.1038/sj.onc.1207102 . ISSN   0950-9232. PMID   14634621.
  8. ↑ "First elected female President of the Academy of Science". Magazine. July 2010 – via EBSCOHost.
  9. ↑ "Suzanne Cory Medal | Australian Academy of Science". www.science.org.au. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  10. ↑ "Lemberg Medal Winners". Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  11. ↑ "Macfarlane Burnet Medal and Lecture". Australian Academy of Science. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  12. ↑ "Elected Fellows of the Royal Society of Victoria - The Royal Society of Victoria". The Royal Society of Victoria. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
  13. ↑ "Professor Suzanne Cory". It's an Honour. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
  14. ↑ "La Légion d'Honneur au professeur Suzanne Cory". Le Courrier Australien . New South Wales, Australia. 1 March 2009. p. 21. Retrieved 23 September 2024– via National Library of Australia.
  15. ↑ Colin Thomson Medal 2011 Announcement Archived 9 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ↑ "2012 Eureka Prizes awarded". ResearchCareer. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  17. ↑ ABC Radio National Boyer Lectures, 2014 Boyer Lectures
  18. ↑ "29 new Fellows elected". AAHMS – Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. 26 October 2021. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
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