Pamela Bjorkman

{{Infobox scientist

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| name = Pamela J. Björkman

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| image = Pamela Bjorkman by Christopher Michel in 2022 01.jpg

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| birth_name = Pamela Jane Bjorkman

| birth_date = 1956

| birth_place = Portland, Oregon

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| spouse = Kai Zinn

| children = 2

| fields = Biochemistry
Biological Engineering
Microbiology
Immunology

| workplaces = California Institute of Technology
UCLA
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

| alma_mater = University of Oregon {{small|(B.A., 1978)}}
Harvard University {{small|(Ph.D, 1984)}}

| academic_advisors = Don Wiley

}}

Pamela Jane Bjorkman NAS, AAAS (also spelled Pamela J. Björkman; born 1956, Portland, Oregon{{cite web|url=http://www.caltech.org/news/caltech-professor-pamela-bjorkman-elected-national-academy-sciences-491|title=Caltech Professor Pamela Bjorkman Elected To National Academy of Sciences - Caltech|website=caltech.org}}) is an American biochemist and molecular biologist. She is the David Baltimore Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).[http://www.news-medical.net/news/2004/05/24/1831.aspx Researchers have isolated a protein receptor in chickens responsible for transferring antibodies from mother to offspring]. The Medical News. May 24, 2004. Her research centers on the study of the three-dimensional structures of proteins related to Class I MHC, or Major Histocompatibility Complex, proteins of the immune system, and proteins involved in the immune responses to viruses. Bjorkman's goal is to improve current therapeutic applications.{{Cite web |date=2023-12-14 |title=Pamela J. Bjorkman - David Baltimore Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering; Merkin Institute Professor |url=https://www.bbe.caltech.edu/people/pamela-j-bjorkman#profile-b4dab8c0-tab |access-date=2023-12-14 |website=www.bbe.caltech.edu |language=en}} Bjorkman is most well known as a pioneer in the field of structural biology.

Early life and education

Image:3hla ribbon.png

Bjorkman was born in 1956 and grew up in Parkrose, a neighborhood in Portland, Oregon.{{Cite web |title=Oral history interview with Pamela Jane Bjorkman |url=https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/hopievq |access-date=2023-12-14 |website=Science History Institute Digital Collections |language=en}} She became interested in science in high school and attended Willamette University for one year before transferring to the University of Oregon, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry.{{Cite web |title=Pamela J. Björkman |url=https://www.rockefeller.edu/greengard-prize/recipients/pamela-bjorkman/ |access-date=2023-12-14 |website=Greengard Prize |language=en}} As an undergraduate student, Bjorkman completed lab work with Larry Church at Reed College and O. Hayes Griffith at the University of Oregon.

In 1978, she began her PhD in biochemistry at Harvard University, where she joined the lab of Don Craig Wiley, an American structural biologist whose lab utilized x-ray crystallography. Bjorkman received her PhD from Harvard in 1984. She stayed on in Wiley's lab in a postdoctoral position where she ultimately solved the first crystal structure of an MHC protein—the HLA-A2 human histocompatibility antigen. This work was published in 1987,{{cite journal |vauthors=Bjorkman PJ, Saper MA, Samraoui B, Bennett WS, Strominger JL, Wiley DC |year=1987 |title=Structure of the human class I histocompatibility antigen, HLA-A2 |journal=Nature |volume=329 |issue=6139 |pages=506–512 |bibcode=1987Natur.329..506B |doi=10.1038/329506a0 |pmid=3309677 |s2cid=4373217}} first at 3.5Å resolution (PDB entry 1HLA) and then refined at 2.6Å (PDB entry 3HLA).{{cite journal |vauthors=Saper MA, Bjorkman PJ, Wiley DC |year=1991 |title=Refined structure of the human histocompatibility antigen HLA-A2 at 2.6 A resolution |journal=Journal of Molecular Biology |volume=219 |issue=2 |pages=277–319 |doi=10.1016/0022-2836(91)90567-p |pmid=2038058}}

Career and Research

Bjorkman continued her postdoctoral research at Stanford University in Mark Davis’ laboratory, studying the T-cell receptors that recognize antigens presented in the binding groove of MHC proteins. They developed a model explaining how this recognition mechanism works. While at Stanford, Bjorkman married neurobiologist Kai Zinn, also currently a full professor at Caltech.{{Cite web |date=2017-03-04 |title=Hard-Core Scientist/Athletes |url=https://magazine.caltech.edu/post/limitless |access-date=2023-12-13 |website=Caltech Magazine |language=en-US}} Bjorkman and Zinn have two children.{{Cite web |date=2011-03-07 |title=Pamela Bjorkman Named Among Most Powerful Moms |url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/pamela-bjorkman-named-among-most-powerful-moms-1891 |access-date=2023-12-13 |website=California Institute of Technology |language=en}}

In 1989, Bjorkman joined the Biology faculty at the California Institute of Technology as an assistant professor. She earned tenure as an associate professor in 1995 and was promoted to full professor in 1998. She was an HHMI investigator from 1989 to 2015. She became the David Baltimore Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering in 2018 and Merkin Institute professor in 2021.

The Bjorkman Laboratory at Caltech focuses on investigating immune responses to viral pathogens with the ultimate goal of improving therapeutics and contributing to vaccine development. Her research focuses particularly on HIV-1, influenza, hepatitis C, and, since the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2. During the pandemic, Bjorkman worked with Michel Nussenzweig, a frequent collaborator, to study coronavirus spike protein structures. This research has implications for vaccine development as new SARS-CoV-2 variants arise.

The Bjorkman Lab utilizes x-ray crystallography, electron microscopy, electron tomography, cryo-electron microscopy, and fluorescent microscopy to study pathogen envelope glycoproteins and the molecular structures involved in the cell surface recognition of viral pathogens. Bjorkman's research also focuses on engineering antibody reagents and the development of mosaic nanoparticles for use in broadly effective vaccines.

Bjorkman's research has been published in journals like Nature and Science.{{Cite web |date=2023-12-06 |title=Pamela J. Bjorkman |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/pamela-j-bjorkman |access-date=2023-12-14 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}

Awards

1989 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences by the Pew Charitable Trusts{{cite web|url=http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/projects/pew-biomedical-scholars/directory-of-pew-scholars/1989/pamela-bjorkman|title=Pamela Bjorkman|website=www.pewtrusts.org}}
1993 Cancer Research Institute William B. Coley Award{{Cite web|title=William B. Coley Award|url=https://www.cancerresearch.org/en-us/about-cri/awards-honors/william-b-coley-award|access-date=2021-09-21|website=Cancer Research Institute|language=en}}
1994 Gairdner Foundation International Award (jointly with Don Wiley){{Cite web|title=Pamela J. Bjorkman|url=https://gairdner.org/award_winners/pamela-j-bjorkman/|access-date=2021-09-21|website=Gairdner Foundation|language=en-US}}
1994 James R. Klinenberg Science Award from the Arthritis Foundation{{cite web|url=http://2017.ashi-hla.org/program/speakers/pamela-bjorkman-phd|title=Pamela Bjorkman, PhD - ASHI 2017|website=2017.ashi-hla.org|access-date=2017-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107010141/http://2017.ashi-hla.org/program/speakers/pamela-bjorkman-phd|archive-date=2017-11-07|url-status=dead}}
1996 AAI-PharMingen Investigator Award{{Cite web|url=http://www.aai.org/Awards/Career-Awards/AAI-Investigator-Award/Past-Recipients.aspx|title=AAI-BD Biosciences Investigator Award Past Recipients|last=|first=|date=|website=American Association of Immunologists|access-date=}}
1996 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize{{cite web |title=Prize Winners of the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize |url=https://www.goethe-university-frankfurt.de/96891276.pdf |website=The Paul Ehrlich Foundation |access-date=17 October 2022}}
1997 Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|accessdate=July 26, 2011}}
1997 James R. Klinenberg Science Award from the Arthritis Foundation
2001 Member of the National Academy of Sciences{{cite web|title=Bjorkman, Pamela J.|url=http://www.nasonline.org/site/Dir/697818405?pg=vprof&mbr=1001792|work=National Academy of Sciences|accessdate=July 26, 2011}}
2002 {{ill|Max Planck Research Award|de|Max-Planck-Forschungspreis|vertical-align=sup}}{{cite web |title=Caltech Biologist Pamela BjorkmanWins Max Planck Research Prize |url=https://career.caltech.edu/news/caltech-biologist-pamela-bjorkmanwins-max-planck-research-prize-644 |website=Caltech |publisher=California Institute of Technology |access-date=17 October 2022 |date=December 18, 2002}}
2002 Member of the American Philosophical Society{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Pamela+J.+Bjorkman&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-09-21|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}
2004 Rose Payne Distinguished Scientist Award{{cite web|url=http://www.ashi-hla.org/?page=awards#rose-award|title=Awards - American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics|website=www.ashi-hla.org}}
2006 L'Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science
2010 National Institute of Health Director's Pioneer Award{{cite web |title=NIH Director's Pioneer Award |url=https://commonfund.nih.gov/pioneer/fundedresearch |website=NIH National Institutes of Health |publisher=National Institutes of Health |access-date=17 October 2022}}
2021 Greengard Prize{{cite web |title=Pamela Björkman wins the 2021 Pearl Meister Greengard Prize |url=https://www.rockefeller.edu/news/31087-pamela-bjorkman-wins-the-2021-pearl-meister-greengard-prize/ |website=rockefeller.edu |publisher=Rockefeller University |access-date=17 October 2022 |date=Sep 16, 2021}}
2025 Wolf Prize in Medicine{{Cite web |last=מיכל |date=2025-03-10 |title=Pamela J. Bjorkman |url=https://wolffund.org.il/pamela-j-bjorkman/ |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=Wolf Foundation |language=en-US}}

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20060718054319/http://biology.caltech.edu/Members/Bjorkman Bio of Bjorkman]
[http://www.hhmi.org/research/investigators/bjorkman_bio.html Description at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute]
[http://www.its.caltech.edu/~bjorker/ Björkman Research Group at HHMI]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20090207224115/http://aai.org/default.asp American Association of Immunologists]

Category:1956 births

Category:American women biochemists

Category:American biophysicists

Category:American women biophysicists

Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Category:Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni

Category:Howard Hughes Medical Investigators

Category:L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science laureates

Category:Living people

Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences

Category:Stanford University postdoctoral scholars

Category:University of Oregon alumni