BCM molecular and cellular biology chair describes award-winning work

In this video, Dr. Bert O’Malley, chair of molecular and cellular biology at Baylor College of Medicine, describes much of his career’s work, which was the basis upon which he was awarded the 2013 Endocrine Regulation Prize of the Fondation IPSEN.

This speech was shown at the 15th European Congress of Endocrinology in Copenhagen, Denmark yesterday.

O’Malley, recipient of the 2007 National Medal of Science, has centered his research around steroid hormones and determined how they work on the cell nucleus, genes and the level of gene expression. His laboratory discovered the first steroid receptor coactivator, and he has gone on to elucidate the function of these “master regulators” in both normal and cancer cells.

He is known as the father of the field of molecular endocrinology.

This prize, established in 2002, is awarded by La Fondation IPSEN to a researcher or a physician who has carried out work essential to a better understanding of the role of endocrine and neuroendocrine interactions in regulating the body’s major metabolic functions. It is bestowed for a particularly significant body of work rather than a single discovery.

-By Ruth SoRelle, M.P.H.