Biochemist and director of biochemistry lab at McIntyre Medical Sciences Bldg, McGill U.
Working with Dr. Emile Skamene (McGill Centre for the Study of Host Resistance), Dr. Erwin Schurr, and Dr. Ken Morgan (Epidemiology and Biostatistics), Philippe Gros cloned the bcg gene in mice and then identified the equivalent gene in humans, called Nramp. Mutations in the Nramp gene create vulnerability to several infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, leprosy, salmonellosis (typhoid fever) and leishmaniasis. Gros and his team also researched the mechanism by which this gene controls susceptibility to these infectious diseases, which apparently modifies the environment of phagocytic cells, the body's first line of defence against infectious disease. Gros's other major breakthrough is the cloning of the mdr (multidrug resistance) gene family, which controls resistance to drugs used in anticancer chemotherapy. Gros is the recipient of the first Michael Smith Award of Excellence and an MRC Senior Scientist Award in 1995 (both awards are from the Medical Research Council of Canada).
Sources: McGill Reporter, March 3, 1995; MRC Communiqué; The Gazette, May 5, 1993
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