Champaign, Illinois - March 3, 2007 - At the 51st Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society held in Baltimore, ISS announced the fourth recipient of the Gregorio Weber Award for Excellence in Fluorescence Theory and Applications. ISS honored Dr. Elliot Elson for his significant and original contributions to the advancement and applications of fluorescence techniques. The award is named for Professor Gregorio Weber who pioneered the developments in the theory and use of fluorescence techniques.

Dr. Elson is an Alumni Endowed Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis. His contributions to the development of fluorescence techniques are far reaching and numerous. In 1972 he co-authored one of the first papers on fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), a field where his contributions throughout the years have been instrumental for advancing both the technique and its applications. In fact, his recent research involves the use of FCS and photobleaching recovery to study transport and molecular interactions in a variety of systems. These include interactions among proteins in cells, e.g., actin filaments with capping protein or the Arp2/3 complex, and between collagen fibrils and collagenase molecules (collaboration with G. Goldberg, Department of Dermatology). He also applies FCS to study conformational transformations of proteins.

ISS is honored to recognize Dr. Elson as this year’s recipient of the Gregorio Weber Award for Excellence in Fluorescence Theory and Applications for his pioneer work in FCS and his continued contributions to the evolution of the field.