Colin L. Masters

{{short description|Australian neuropathologist (born 1947)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Colin L. Masters | image =  | alt =  | caption = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1947|02|05}} | birth_place = Perth, Western Australia | death_date = | death_place = | fields = neuropathology | known_for = neurodegenerative diseases | notable_works = | workplaces = NINDS {{small|(1977-1981)}}<br />Heidelberg University {{small|(1981-2)}}<br />{{nowrap|University of Western Australia {{small|(1981-9)}} }}<br />University of Melbourne {{small|(1989-)}} | patrons = | education = University of Western Australia {{nowrap|{{small|(MB BS 1970, MD 1977)}} }} | alma_mater = | thesis_title =  | thesis_url =  | thesis_year =  | doctoral_advisor =  | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | influences = | influenced = | awards = Potamkin Prize {{small|(1990)}}<br />King Faisal International Prize in Medicine {{small|(1997)}} | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | spouse =  | partner =  | children = | signature =  | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = }}

'''Colin Louis Masters''' {{small|MD}} {{post-nominals|country=AUS|FAA|AO}} (born 5 Feb 1947 in Perth, Western Australia) is an Australian neuropathologist who researches Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. He is laureate professor of pathology at the University of Melbourne.<ref name="UM">{{cite web | title=Prof Colin Masters | website=The University of Melbourne | url=https://www.findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/display/person13704 | access-date=29 September 2018}}</ref><ref name="Trove">{{cite web | title=Masters, Colin L. (1947-) - People and organisations | website=Trove | date=11 December 1947 | url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1228439 | access-date=30 September 2018}}</ref>

==Career== Masters studied medicine at the University of Western Australia.<ref name="EOAS"/> He opted for an extra year of pre-medical studies in 1967, which he spent doing neuropathology research,<ref name="SW">{{cite web| title=Colin Masters Interview - Special Topic of Alzheimer's Disease| website=ScienceWatch.com| date=25 May 2011| url=http://archive.sciencewatch.com/ana/st/alz2/11maySTAlz2Mast/| access-date=1 October 2018}}</ref> and graduated M.B. B.S. in 1970. He completed his M.D. in medical neuropathology in 1977 after research fellowships at the University of Western Australia and Massachusetts General Hospital. After positions as visiting scientist at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and Humboldt fellow at Heidelberg University, he returned to Western Australia and Royal Perth Hospital in 1981 as a clinician-scientist. In 1989 he relocated to the University of Melbourne where he spent the rest of his career as consultant pathologist and professor of pathology, becoming laureate professor in 2002 and serving for six years as associate dean of research at the medical and dental school.<ref name="EOAS">{{cite web| title=Biographical entry - Encyclopedia of Australian Science| website=Masters, Colin Louis| url=http://www.eoas.info/biogs/P003963b.htm| first=Rosanne| last=Walker| date=26 March 2007| access-date=30 September 2018}}</ref>

==Scientific achievements== Masters and his erstwhile colleague from Heidelberg Konrad Beyreuther were the first to characterize the amyloid protein that forms the cerebral plaques observed in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Down's Syndrome (DS, also known as trisomy 21).<ref name="pmid3159021">{{cite journal|vauthors=Masters CL, Simms G, Weinman NA, Multhaup G, McDonald BL, Beyreuther K| title=Amyloid plaque core protein in Alzheimer disease and Down syndrome| journal=Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A| year= 1985| volume=82| issue=12| pages=4245–9| pmid=3159021| pmc=397973| doi=10.1073/pnas.82.12.4245| doi-access=free}}</ref> Known as amyloid beta (Aβ), this peptide is derived from amyloid precursor protein (APP), which was subsequently mapped to the region of chromosome 21 that is altered in DS.<ref name="Tanzi">{{cite journal |vauthors=Tanzi RE, Bertram L| title=Twenty Years of the Alzheimer's Disease Amyloid Hypothesis: A Genetic Perspective | journal=Cell | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=120 | issue=4 | year=2005 | issn=0092-8674 | doi=10.1016/j.cell.2005.02.008 | pages=545–555 | pmid=15734686| doi-access=free }}</ref> The notion that Aβ causes AD, called the amyloid hypothesis, gained force from genetic studies that traced familial forms of the disease to variations in the APP gene.<ref name="APPvar">{{cite journal | author=Goate A|display-authors=et al| title=Segregation of a missense mutation in the amyloid precursor protein gene with familial Alzheimer's disease | journal=Nature | publisher=Springer Nature | volume=349 | issue=6311 | year=1991 | issn=0028-0836 | doi=10.1038/349704a0 | pages=704–706 | pmid=1671712|s2cid=4336069}}</ref> Masters became a prominent proponent of the amyloid hypothesis, developing strategies for anti-Alzheimer's treatments that suppress the beta secretase and gamma secretase enzymes that cleave APP to form Aβ, or modify the interactions between metal ions and Aβ that are important for its toxic effects. Despite two decades of intensive research, however, these approaches have not yielded useful drugs.<ref name="Makin">{{cite journal | author=Makin S| title=The amyloid hypothesis on trial | journal=Nature | publisher=Springer Nature | volume=559 | issue=7715 | year=2018 | issn=0028-0836 | doi=10.1038/d41586-018-05719-4 | pages=S4–S7| pmid=30046080 | doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Awards== Masters and Beyreuther both received {{ill|Max Planck Research Award|lt=Max Planck Research Awards|de|Max-Planck-Forschungspreis}} in 1991.<ref name="Max Planck">{{cite web| title=Max-Planck-Forschungspreis| trans-title=Max Planck Research Award| website=Max-Planck-Gesellschaft| url=http://www.mpg.de:80/ueberDieGesellschaft/profil/wissenschaftlichePreise/auszeichnungDerMPG/MPForschungspreis/mpfp1990_1998/1991/index.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090925183820/http://www.mpg.de/ueberDieGesellschaft/profil/wissenschaftlichePreise/auszeichnungDerMPG/MPForschungspreis/mpfp1990_1998/1991/index.html| archive-date=25 September 2009| language=de| access-date=30 September 2018| url-status=live}}</ref> They also jointly won the 1990 Potamkin Prize<ref name="Potamkin">{{cite web | title=Awards History | website=American Academy of Neurology | url=https://www.aan.com/education-and-research/research/awards-history/?#anchorlink23 | access-date=30 September 2018}}</ref> and the 1995 {{ill|Zülch Award|de|Zülch-Preis}}.<ref name="Zülch">{{cite web| title=Zülch Prize| website=Max-Planck-Gesellschaft| date=26 September 2018| url=https://www.mpg.de/1156268/Zuelch_Prize| access-date=30 September 2018}}</ref> In 1997 they were awarded the King Faisal International Prize in Medicine, together with James F. Gusella, for contributions to the understanding of neurodegenerative diseases.<ref name="Faisal">{{cite web | title=Professor Colin L. Masters | website=King Faisal Prize | date=10 October 2012 | url=http://kingfaisalprize.org/professor-colin-l-masters/ | access-date=13 August 2018}}</ref> Masters won the Florey Medal in 2002.<ref name="Florey">{{cite web| url=http://www.aips.net.au/news-events/the-florey-medal/2002-professor-colin-masters/| title=CSL Florey Medal 2002 – Professor Colin Masters| website=Australian Institute of Policy and Science| access-date=30 September 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930193415/http://www.aips.net.au/news-events/the-florey-medal/2002-professor-colin-masters/| archive-date=30 September 2018| url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2006, he was awarded the Grand Hamdan International Award for Medical Sciences in the field of Molecular and Cellular Pathology of Neurological Disorders.<ref name="Hamdan">{{cite web| title=Prof. Colin Masters| website=Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences| url=http://www.hmaward.org.ae/profile.php?id=218| access-date=30 September 2018}}</ref> He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award in Alzheimer's Disease Research from the Alzheimer's Association.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.alzforum.org/news/conference-coverage/madrid-pooled-antibody-cocktail-new-metal-quencher| title=Madrid: Pooled Antibody Cocktail, New Metal Quencher| first=Gabrielle| last=Strobel| date=13 September 2006| access-date=30 September 2018}}</ref> He is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, the Royal College of Pathologists in England, and the Royal College of Pathologists, Australia.<ref name="EOAS"/> He was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (FAHMS) in 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.aahms.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/AAHMS_Fellowship_October-2015.pdf|title=Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Health & Medical Sciences - October 2015|website=Australian Academy of Health & Medical Sciences|access-date=12 October 2018}}</ref> He is Honorary Doctor of Letters of the University of Western Australia (2008).<ref name="UM"/> He was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia on Australia Day, 2017.<ref name="SMH">{{cite web | title=2017 Australia Day honours list: Julia Gillard appointed an AC | website=The Sydney Morning Herald | date=25 January 2017 | url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/2017-australia-day-honours-list-julia-gillard-appointed-an-ac-20170119-gtunse.html | access-date=30 September 2018}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Masters, Colin}} Category:Australian neuroscientists Category:Alzheimer's disease researchers Category:Living people Category:Officers of the Order of Australia Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences Category:1947 births Category:University of Western Australia alumni Category:Neuropathologists