Pharmacological Sciences

Zickler Lecture - 1996

DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACOLOGICAL SCIENCES

About
the Speaker

The 1996 Zickler Lecture will be given by Sir James Black, FRS, FRCP who, in 1982, received the Wolf Prize in Medicine and shared with Gertrude B. Elion and George Hitchings in 1988 the Nobel Prize in Medicine. He graduated from the University of St. Andrews (UK) in 1946 and spent twelve years in academic physiology successively at the Universities of St. Andrews, Malaya, and Glasgow . During the next 15 years, he worked in the pharmaceutical industry at Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) and Smith Kline French (SKF). His special interest in cardiovascular physiology led him to suggest, using the principle of parsimony, that a drug which would annul the effects of epinephrine on the heart.

might, by decreasing that organ's demand for oxygen, amelio­rate angina pectoris and attenuate the risk of sudden death due to ventricular fibrillation. His collaboration with Stephenson at ICI led to the discovery of pronethalol, the first clinically-evaluated beta-blocker which resulted in the develop­ment of propranolol (Inderal), a drug taken by millions of people throughout the world. His subsequent research at SKF explained the clear differences in patterns of agonism and antagonism between a and receptors and a similar parallel with histamine responses and their antagonism. Sir Black and his coworkers established that the histamine receptor in the stomach differed from that of the respiratory tract. This discovery led to the development of burimamide, the prototype for histamine H2-receptor antago­nists and the anti ulcer drug cimetidine (Tagamet). His other positions include Head, Department of Pharmacology, Kings College , London , Director of Therapeutic Research, Wellcome Research Laboratories, England , and Professor of Analytical Pharmacology, Rayne Institute, Kings College School of Medicine, London . He is currently Chair of the James Black Foundation where he directs a research group of 25 scientists involved in develop­ment of heuristic aspects of modeling, classifying drug actions, and examining the rational basis for new drug research. In addition to the Nobel Prize, his inspired research resulted in numerous prestigious awards and honorary degrees from universities and professional societies worldwide. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of London and the Royal College of Physicians and was created a Knight Bachelor in 1981 for services to medical research by her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. Since 1992, he has been Chancellor of the University of Dundee where he plays an active role in university affairs. Sir James is very concerned with the education of pharmacolo­gists and the development of undergraduate programs that provide a broad-based curriculum in both physiological and molecular pharmacology.