Full Text of HR1147 95th General Assembly
HR1147 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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HR1147 |
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 |
| Representatives are pleased to congratulate Dr. Graeme Bell on | 4 |
| the occasion of his 60th birthday; and
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| WHEREAS, Dr. Graeme Bell was born in Canada; he earned his | 6 |
| bachelor's degree in zoology from the University of Calgary in | 7 |
| Canada in 1968 and his master's degree in biology from the | 8 |
| University of Calgary in 1971; he earned his Ph.D. in | 9 |
| Biochemistry at the University of California in San Francisco | 10 |
| (UCSF) in 1977, working with Professor William J. Rutter; and
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| WHEREAS, After an extremely successful career in industry | 12 |
| as a scientific founder of Chiron, Dr. Graeme Bell moved to an | 13 |
| academic position at the University of Chicago, successfully | 14 |
| demonstrating that investigators can make the transition from | 15 |
| industry to academia; currently serving as the Louis Block | 16 |
| Distinguished Service Professor of the Departments of Medicine | 17 |
| and Human Genetics and as Director of the National Institutes | 18 |
| of Health-funded Diabetes Research and Training Center at the | 19 |
| University of Chicago, he has a strong record in training | 20 |
| fellows from around the world, many of whom now occupy | 21 |
| important leadership positions in the diabetes community in | 22 |
| North America, Europe, and Asia; and |
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| WHEREAS, Dr. Graeme Bell's scientific career has coincided | 2 |
| with a pioneering period in the development and application of | 3 |
| the techniques of molecular biology to complex human genetic | 4 |
| disease; in the midst of this period, he has established | 5 |
| himself as one of the key outstanding international leaders of | 6 |
| the field, utilizing powerful new technologies in the | 7 |
| elucidation of a number of landmark discoveries; his career has | 8 |
| been particularly notable for the fields he has created along | 9 |
| the way in his search for genes underlying diabetes mellitus, | 10 |
| establishing himself as a world leader in the study of the | 11 |
| genetics of the most common forms of diabetes; and
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| WHEREAS, Early in his illustrious career, Dr. Graeme Bell | 13 |
| documented the phosphorylation of RNA polymerases and was the | 14 |
| first to clone the full-length cDNA and the chromosomal gene | 15 |
| encoding human insulin, discoveries which opened the way for | 16 |
| the production of human insulin and its large-scale use in | 17 |
| patients with diabetes mellitus; and | 18 |
| WHEREAS, Dr. Graeme Bell was the first person to isolate | 19 |
| and characterize the gene encoding the human insulin receptor | 20 |
| precursor and to identify functionally important alternative | 21 |
| splicing of this gene in certain tissues; he also played a key | 22 |
| role in initially characterizing the many important genes, | 23 |
| including the family of mammalian glucose transporters, | 24 |
| several somatostatin receptors in the pancreatic islet, gut, |
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| and central nervous system, an inositol trisphosphate receptor | 2 |
| (IP3R3) that plays an important role in regulation of | 3 |
| intracellular calcium in many cell types, and several opioid | 4 |
| receptors in the central nervous system; and
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| WHEREAS, Dr. Graeme Bell has continued to make landmark | 6 |
| contributions to the understanding of the genetic basis of | 7 |
| diabetes; his most significant discoveries in this area have | 8 |
| put him at the forefront in elucidating genes causing | 9 |
| monogenetic forms of diabetes, especially maturity onset | 10 |
| diabetes of the young (MODY); his observations regarding MODY's | 11 |
| links to the glucokinase gene have stimulated a large number of | 12 |
| clinical and physiological studies from investigators | 13 |
| throughout the world, confirming the long postulated role of | 14 |
| glucokinase as the "glucose sensor" of the beta cell that | 15 |
| governs insulin secretion in response to glucose; these | 16 |
| discoveries have also expanded the knowledge of the structure | 17 |
| and function of hexokinases in a general context; and | 18 |
| WHEREAS, Dr. Graeme Bell has recently been at the center of | 19 |
| a collaboration involving neonatal diabetes genes; working | 20 |
| with Pal Njolstad in 2001, he described the first genetic | 21 |
| etiology of neonatal diabetes in isolation when they showed | 22 |
| homozygous mutations in the glucokinase gene, resulting in | 23 |
| severe neonatal diabetes from birth; working with Philipson and | 24 |
| Cox, he established a referral center for children diagnosed in |
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| infancy to allow diagnostic testing for known causes and also | 2 |
| to define new genes for monogenic diabetes, which has led to | 3 |
| the identification of over a dozen patients with KCNJ11 | 4 |
| mutations in the United States and their treatment, changing | 5 |
| from moderate control on insulin injections to excellent | 6 |
| control on sulfonylurea tablets; and
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| WHEREAS, Dr. Graeme Bell has also been at the forefront in | 8 |
| advancing our understanding of the genetic basis of the common | 9 |
| polygenic forms of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, having found | 10 |
| numerous connections between genetic patterns and | 11 |
| susceptibility to these forms of the disease; and | 12 |
| WHEREAS, Dr. Graeme Bell has developed a fine reputation | 13 |
| among his colleagues for his exemplary conduct as a scientist; | 14 |
| he is particularly well known for his generosity in sharing | 15 |
| reagents and scientific expertise with investigators all over | 16 |
| the world; his willingness to share reagents and information | 17 |
| prior to publication with other investigators, even from | 18 |
| competing laboratories, has been extremely important in | 19 |
| allowing the research of diabetes to continue moving forward; | 20 |
| he is often sought by the NIH, Wellcome Trust, Medical Research | 21 |
| Council, and premier scientific journals as a reviewer for | 22 |
| applications and papers submitted to those agencies; and
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| WHEREAS, Dr. Graeme Bell has demonstrated an exceptional |
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| level of productivity, having produced over 380 peer-reviewed | 2 |
| publications; as a testament to the enormous impact of his | 3 |
| work, his papers have been cited over 42,000 times, with 114 | 4 |
| papers having been cited over 100 times; and
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| WHEREAS, In recognition of his seminal contributions to the | 6 |
| understanding of the molecular and genetic basis of glucose | 7 |
| transport, Dr. Graeme Bell was the recipient of the Outstanding | 8 |
| Scientific Achievement Award of the American Diabetes | 9 |
| Association (Lilly Award) in 1990; and
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| WHEREAS, Dr. Graeme Bell's stellar scientific career has | 11 |
| led to seminal contributions to multiple aspects of diabetes | 12 |
| research over the past 25 years; his scientific | 13 |
| accomplishments, coupled with his collegiality and his | 14 |
| exemplary role in the training of colleagues and students, make | 15 |
| him an exceptional scientific resource for the State of | 16 |
| Illinois; and | 17 |
| WHEREAS, Dr. Graeme Bell will celebrate his 60th birthday | 18 |
| on April 15, 2008; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 20 |
| NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 21 |
| congratulate one of the foremost diabetes scientists, Dr. | 22 |
| Graeme Bell, on the occasion of his 60th birthday and wish him |
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| further success and happiness in the future; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 3 |
| presented to Dr. Graeme Bell as a symbol of our esteem and | 4 |
| respect.
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