Nobel laureate Marshall joins Penn State faculty

Frances Andrijich Photographer Barry J. Marshall, Nobel laureate. For a larger version of this photo, click on the image above.

University Park, Pa. -- Barry J. Marshall, co-recipient of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, has accepted an appointment at Penn State as the Francis R. and Helen M. Pentz Professor of Science to further his groundbreaking research in bacterial infections.

This part-time position is associated with the University's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the Eberly College of Science, the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences in the College of Agricultural Sciences and the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the College of Medicine, as well as with the multidisciplinary Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.

"We see this appointment as an opportunity for Dr. Marshall to bring his outstanding research experience and his special qualities of outreach and public understanding of science together with Penn State's strengths in genomics, embodied in the Institute of Genomics, and our strengths in infectious diseases in the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics," said President Graham B. Spanier.

Born in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Marshall received his medical education at the University of Western Australia and specialty physician training at Royal Perth Hospital, where he began research on a gastroenterology project under the supervision of his Nobel co-recipient, J. Robin Warren. In subsequent years Marshall continued his research at sites in Australia and the United States.

His body of work led to the discovery of a previously undescribed bacteria, Helicobacter Pylori, in the human stomach, which ultimately led to proof of his theory that peptic ulcers were caused by this bacteria, and that patients with this bacteria also were at significant risk for developing stomach cancer. Marshall's findings revolutionized treatment for ulcer patients worldwide.

He will continue his efforts as senior research fellow at the University of Western Australia's School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences, which will be his principal appointment. Marshall will typically spend part of the spring semester each year at Penn State giving lectures and overseeing his Penn State-based research.

His current research project is studying the molecular technology of Helicobacter to develop vaccines related to the bacteria or perhaps use some of the components of the bacteria itself as a vaccine.

"What I see at Penn State that's quite exciting is that in microbiology they have cultivated a very diverse type of faculty -- lateral thinkers, creative people not just focused on book learning," said Marshall. "So whenever I come here and talk to the faculty, I learn a lot. There are people doing epidemiological studies on measles and epidemics, and studying tropical diseases' genomics."

In October 2006 Marshall visited colleagues in Penn State's Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics (CIDD). President Spanier enlisted the support of CIDD researchers Stephan Schuster, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, and Peter Hudson, the Willaman Professor of Biology, along with Eberly College of Science Dean Daniel Larson to interest Marshall in working at Penn State.