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Wednesday 5/23/2001
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Wednesday 5/23/2001
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By Anna Herkamp
Summer Reporter
Chemistry is a good central science that feeds into many other branches of study, according to Philip Low, one of the newly announced distinguished professors at Purdue.
Low was one of two distinguished professors named at the Board of Trustees meeting on Friday. He was chosen for his extensive work and dedication to his field of research.
Perhaps it was his interest in his field during his undergraduate work in biochemistry at Brigham Young University that would lead into his career of studying cell membranes, or perhaps it was his father who mentored him from the beginning of his career that spurred his interest in biochemical research.
His father, who was also a Purdue professor, studied agronomy and was a member of the National Academy of Science.
After graduating from Brigham Young in 1971, he went on to his graduate work and earned his doctoral degree in biochemistry from the University of California at San Diego in 1975. He came to Purdue in 1976 after doing his post-doctoral work at the University of Massachusetts. He served as the head of the biochemistry division of Purdue's Department of Chemistry from 1988 to 1997. He was appointed the Joseph F. Foster Professor of Chemistry in 1995.
He is studying new cancer treatments that involve linking cancer cells to a vitamin that feeds the cells. The vitamin is actually linked to a toxin that will help kill the cancer.
The reason for this new type of treatment is to "fool" the cancer into consuming the toxin. This treatment targets only the cancerous cells rather than the whole body.
Treatments normally used to combat cancer, such as chemotherapy, leave the patient very ill with many side effects including hair loss, a bleeding gut and exposure to many types of infectious disease.
In the future, this treatment can be used to combat cancer in ways that will not make the patient even sicker, Low said.
Low currently holds seven patents; several deal with drugs that target cancer cells, and others are for diseases including Rheumatoid Arthritis, Arteriosclerosis and inflammatory bowel diseases.
His cancer research has led him to help found a company called Endocyte, which is located in Purdue's Research Park. The company specializes in drug delivery and creation of new delivery systems.
Christopher Leamon, vice president of research and development of Endocyte, said Low's distinguished professorship will help give the company some prestige. He said he hopes it will help boost recognition of the company.
Low has also served on several editorial boards for scientific journals including "Blood," "Plant Physiology," "Journal of Plant Biology," and "Journal of Gene Therapy and Molecular Biology."
Low said he finds it hard to pick any one most rewarding career achievement, but "This cancer stuff is really exciting," he said.
"It has tremendous potential for doing good."
Having the opportunity to impact society is what makes cancer research so incredible, he said.
Low said he thought hard about being a medical doctor early in his career, but he said finding new knowledge a practitioner can use was more rewarding because it gave him the opportunity to discover things "no one else has ever known before."
Low and his research team are studying blood in addition to their work on cancer cells.
He said he hopes his distinguished professorship brings recognition to the entire chemistry department because all of science is a team effort. You can't do good research with out good administration, graduate students, and the support of a good staff, he said.
For Low it may seem like there is little end in sight. In addition to the ten-hour days he puts in at the University, he always takes his work home with him. "I work in a rapidly developing field and I have to keep up. I'm never bored. I'm always challenged with what I do," he said.
Low says in the future he will continue to work as hard as he can as he'd like to see some of the new treatments out on the market in the next 5 to 10 years.
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