Russell J. Howard

Russell J. Howard
Born
Australia
NationalityAustralian
Known forMalaria Research, Biotechnology Industry
AwardsAdvance Global Australian Award, Overall winner and Biotechnology Award, 2013[1]
Scientific career
FieldsBiotechnology
InstitutionsNIH, DNAX Schering Plough, Maxygen, GSK, Affymax, NovoNutrients, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Immutep, NeuClone,

Russell J. Howard is an Australian-born executive, entrepreneur and scientist. He was a pioneer in the fields of molecular parasitology, especially malaria,[2][3][4][5][6] and in leading the commercialisation of one of the most important methods used widely today in molecular biology today called “DNA shuffling" or "Molecular breeding",[7] a form of "Directed evolution".

His contributions to malaria research over an 18-year period began in Australia at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, then continued as a tenured Principal Investigator at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD, USA, and continued at the biotechnology companies DNAX (now Schering-Plough Biopharma) and Affymax in California. Thirteen years of his group's malaria research on antigenic variation in malaria[2][3][4][5][6][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] culminated in the first molecular cloning of the malarial antigen PfEMP1,[19] a parasite protein that this human malaria parasite expresses on the surface of malaria-infected red cells[4][5][20] This antigen represents critical biological functions for the parasite including immune evasion and adherence to microvascular endothelial cells.[21] During this time Howard served on the World Health Organization's Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases and the USAID program for research and vaccine development in malaria.

While Howard was President and Scientific Director at Affymax Research Institute, Willem 'Pim' Stemmer[22] conceived and developed DNA shuffling Technology.[7] This revolutionary technology for improving the expressed phenotype of genes, pathways, plasmids, viruses and genomes gave birth to the creation and spinout of Maxygen Inc.[23] where Howard was CEO for 12 years (1997-2009).

He took the company public in 1999[24] and led its growth with 10's of corporate partnerships and technology application programs that led ultimately to the development and commercialisation worldwide of 10's of Life Science products in diverse fields. Maxygen exploited DNA Shuffling technology across the entire Life Sciences spectrum, creating new companies dedicated to Agricultural Products (Verdia[25]) and Industrial Chemical opportunities (Codexis[26]) as well as a Protein Pharmaceuticals Business (Perseid[27]).

In 2008, Howard left Maxygen to found Oakbio Inc. in 2009. He remains Chairman of Oakbio Inc. (doing business as NovoNutrients Inc.), in Sunnyvale, California, USA. NovoNutrients uses proprietary microbes for CO2 capture from industrial processes. Industrial CO2 emissions are used as sole carbon source and H
2 gas as sole energy source to manufacture bacterial biomass, or single cell protein, a source of high quality protein for aquaculture and in future, for human foods [1].

Upon taking up residence in 2012 in Sydney, Australia, Howard became Executive Chairman of NeuClone Pty. Ltd., a clinical stage biotechnology company dedicated to development of biosimilars of monoclonal antibody drugs.

In 2013 Howard joined Prima Biomed Pty. Ltd., based in Sydney, Berlin and Paris, later renamed Immutep Pty. Ltd., as Non-Executive Director. In 2017 he took the role of Non-Executive Chairman and continues today in this role. Immutep develops novel immuno-oncology and autoimmune drugs based on its LAG3 patent estate.

He was Commercial Strategy Advisor at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research's Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics in Sydney, 2015–2018.[28][29]

Howard has published over 145 scientific publications in refereed journals and is an inventor on nine issued patents.

  1. ^ "Russell Howard".
  2. ^ a b Howard, Russell J. (January 1982). "Alterations in the Surface Membrane of Red Blood Cells During Malaria". Immunological Reviews. 61 (1): 67–107. doi:10.1111/j.1600-065x.1982.tb00374.x. PMID 6174414. S2CID 34158070.
  3. ^ a b Howard, R. J.; Barnwell, J. W.; Kao, V. (1 July 1983). "Antigenic variation of Plasmodium knowlesi malaria: identification of the variant antigen on infected erythrocytes". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 80 (13): 4129–4133. Bibcode:1983PNAS...80.4129H. doi:10.1073/pnas.80.13.4129. PMC 394214. PMID 6191331.
  4. ^ a b c Leech, J H; Barnwell, J W; Miller, L H; Howard, R J (1 June 1984). "Identification of a strain-specific malarial antigen exposed on the surface of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes". Journal of Experimental Medicine. 159 (6): 1567–1575. doi:10.1084/jem.159.6.1567. PMC 2187322. PMID 6374009.
  5. ^ a b c Howard, RJ (13 November 1984). "Antigenic variation of bloodstage malaria parasites". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. B, Biological Sciences. 307 (1131): 141–158. Bibcode:1984RSPTB.307..141H. doi:10.1098/rstb.1984.0115. PMID 6151679.
  6. ^ a b Aley, S B; Sherwood, J A; Howard, R J (1 November 1984). "Knob-positive and knob-negative Plasmodium falciparum differ in expression of a strain-specific malarial antigen on the surface of infected erythrocytes". Journal of Experimental Medicine. 160 (5): 1585–1590. doi:10.1084/jem.160.5.1585. PMC 2187501. PMID 6208311.
  7. ^ a b Stemmer, Willem P.C. (2002). "Molecular Breeding of Genes, Pathways and Genomes by DNA Shuffling". The Scientific World Journal. 2: 130–131. doi:10.1100/tsw.2002.61. PMC 6009264. PMID 29973836.
  8. ^ Leech, J H; Barnwell, J W; Aikawa, M; Miller, L H; Howard, R J (1 April 1984). "Plasmodium falciparum malaria: association of knobs on the surface of infected erythrocytes with a histidine-rich protein and the erythrocyte skeleton". Journal of Cell Biology. 98 (4): 1256–1264. doi:10.1083/jcb.98.4.1256. PMC 2113211. PMID 6371019.
  9. ^ Marsh, K.; Howard, R. J. (10 January 1986). "Antigens induced on erythrocytes by P. falciparum: expression of diverse and conserved determinants". Science. 231 (4734): 150–153. Bibcode:1986Sci...231..150M. doi:10.1126/science.2417315. PMID 2417315.
  10. ^ Howard, R J; Lyon, J A; Uni, S; Saul, A J; Aley, S B; Klotz, F; Panton, L J; Sherwood, J A; Marsh, K; Aikawa, M (1 May 1987). "Transport of an Mr approximately 300,000 Plasmodium falciparum protein (Pf EMP 2) from the intraerythrocytic asexual parasite to the cytoplasmic face of the host cell membrane". The Journal of Cell Biology. 104 (5): 1269–1280. doi:10.1083/jcb.104.5.1269. PMC 2114467. PMID 2437128.
  11. ^ Miller, L. H.; Howard, R. J.; Carter, R.; Good, M. F.; Nussenzweig, V.; Nussenzweig, R. S. (12 December 1986). "Research toward malaria vaccines". Science. 234 (4782): 1349–1356. Bibcode:1986Sci...234.1349M. doi:10.1126/science.2431481. PMID 2431481.
  12. ^ Howard, RJ (1 August 1989). "Malaria: the search for vaccine antigens and new chemotherapeutic strategies". Blood. 74 (2): 533–536. doi:10.1182/blood.V74.2.533.533. PMID 2665847. INIST 7332277.
  13. ^ Howard, RJ; Gilladoga, AD (December 1989). "Molecular studies related to the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria". Blood. 74 (8): 2603–2618. doi:10.1182/blood.V74.8.2603.2603. PMID 2479423. INIST 6773267.
  14. ^ van Schravendijk, MR; Rock, EP; Marsh, K; Ito, Y; Aikawa, M; Neequaye, J; Ofori-Adjei, D; Rodriguez, R; Patarroyo, ME; Howard, RJ (1 July 1991). "Characterization and localization of Plasmodium falciparum surface antigens on infected erythrocytes from west African patients". Blood. 78 (1): 226–236. doi:10.1182/blood.V78.1.226.226. PMID 2070055. INIST 4327267.
  15. ^ Leung, L. L.; Li, W. X.; McGregor, J. L.; Albrecht, G.; Howard, R. J. (5 September 1992). "CD36 peptides enhance or inhibit CD36-thrombospondin binding. A two-step process of ligand-receptor interaction". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 267 (25): 18244–18250. doi:10.1016/S0021-9258(19)37179-0. PMID 1381367.
  16. ^ Handunnetti, SM; van Schravendijk, MR; Hasler, T; Barnwell, JW; Greenwalt, DE; Howard, RJ (15 October 1992). "Involvement of CD36 on erythrocytes as a rosetting receptor for Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes". Blood. 80 (8): 2097–104. doi:10.1182/blood.V80.8.2097.2097. PMID 1382720.
  17. ^ Howard, Russell J. (June 1992). "Asexual deviants take over". Nature. 357 (6380): 647–648. Bibcode:1992Natur.357..647H. doi:10.1038/357647a0. PMID 1614513. S2CID 4348017.
     • Howard, R.J.; Pasloske, B.L. (October 1993). "Target antigens for asexual malaria vaccine development". Parasitology Today. 9 (10): 369–372. doi:10.1016/0169-4758(93)90085-t. PMID 15463671.
  18. ^ Pasloske, Brittan L.; Howard, Russell J. (February 1994). "Malaria, the red cell, and the endothelium". Annual Review of Medicine. 45 (1): 283–295. doi:10.1146/annurev.med.45.1.283. PMID 8198384.
  19. ^ Baruch, Dror I.; Pasloske, Britten L.; Singh, Hardeep B.; Bi, Xiahui; Ma, Xin C.; Feldman, Michael; Taraschi, Theodore F.; Howard, Russell J. (1995). "Cloning the P. falciparum gene encoding PfEMP1, a malarial variant antigen and adherence receptor on the surface of parasitized human erythrocytes". Cell. 82 (1): 77–87. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(95)90054-3. PMID 7541722. S2CID 700863.
  20. ^ Aley, S B; Sherwood, J A; Howard, R J (1 November 1984). "Knob-positive and knob-negative Plasmodium falciparum differ in expression of a strain-specific malarial antigen on the surface of infected erythrocytes". Journal of Experimental Medicine. 160 (5): 1585–1590. doi:10.1084/jem.160.5.1585. PMC 2187501. PMID 6208311.
  21. ^ Baruch, DI; Ma, XC; Singh, HB; Bi, X; Pasloske, BL; Howard, RJ (1 November 1997). "Identification of a region of PfEMP1 that mediates adherence of Plasmodium falciparum infected erythrocytes to CD36: conserved function with variant sequence". Blood. 90 (9): 3766–75. doi:10.1182/blood.V90.9.3766. PMID 9345064.
  22. ^ Willem P.C. Stemmer
  23. ^ Zaffaroni Announces New Start-Up Company – Maxygen, Inc.
  24. ^ Maxygen, Inc. Raises $110 Million In Initial Public Offering of Its Common Stock
  25. ^ DuPont To Acquire Maxygen Subsidiary Verdia
  26. ^ Maxygen Announces Launch of Wholly Owned Chemicals Subsidiary, Codexis, Inc.
  27. ^ Maxygen and Astellas Announce Global Agreement to Develop New Therapies for Autoimmune Diseases and Transplantation.
  28. ^ "Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics Staff". Organisation Website. Garvan Institute. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
  29. ^ Durkin, Patrick. "Russell Howard: scientist, entrepreneur, CEO". Magazine. Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 21 February 2014.