UVic Biologist Wins National Research Award

University of Victoria biologist Dr. Ben Koop is looking forward to devoting 100 per cent of his time over the next two years to exploring the mysteries of the genetic universe.

Koop is one of six Canadian scientists to be awarded a prestigious 2001 E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship, announced today by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).

The award, highly coveted in academic circles, is presented by NSERC to outstanding university scientists and engineers who have earned their doctorate within the last 12 years. The award provides salary and research funds and frees recipients from teaching and administrative duties for a two-year period.

Koop is an evolutionary geneticist whose research career has spanned topics as diverse as the genes of the human immune system, genetic comparisons of humans, chimps and gorillas, genetic variability among dogs and wolves, and the evolution of deep sea snails.

"I'm intrigued by genetic variation," says Koop of his eclectic interests. "Whether we're talking about people or wildlife populations, there's a tremendous value to variation, and what might be detrimental in one circumstance might be beneficial in another. And it all goes right back to the genes and their interactions with the environment."

Koop, a native of Fort St. John, earned a BSc and MSc in zoology from Texas Tech University in 1982 and a PhD in molecular biology and genetics from Wayne State University in Michigan in 1988. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the California Institute of Technology, he joined UVic's biology department in 1992. He's been department chair since July 2000, and is also deputy director of UVic's centre for environmental health.

Koop was a participant in the Human Genome Project, one of two worldwide research networks to announce in June 2000 that they had "mapped" the three billion bits of genetic code that define the human organism.

"It was a truly amazing feat, but it's a first draft and much work still needs to be done," says Koop, whose contribution to the project was to identify genes that help the body recognize and destroy foreign invaders such as viruses, bacteria and cancer cells. "There are still many holes in our knowledge of the genome, and it's these holes that are enormously interesting in terms of disease."

As a Steacie fellow, Koop will extend his work on immune system genes to include cows, which have similar genetic components to humans. He'll also continue to study a fragile section of human chromosome known as 7q22, which has been linked to various types of cancer. In addition, he hopes to start a major new genetics project on the population health of wild and farmed salmon. And there are various other ongoing wildlife conservation projects, including collaborative studies on genetic diversity in sturgeon and coho salmon.

"This is a great opportunity because it gives me the freedom to explore new avenues of inquiry," says Koop, who will begin his fellowship in January 2002. "It's the mechanisms of change I enjoy studying, so at the end of the two years I hope to know a lot more genetic changes and our environment."

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