Professor Lorne Golub Named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors
January 2017 – Lorne Golub, DMD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Oral Biology & Pathology at Stony Brook University School of Dental Medicine, and an innovator in the development of medicines to promote oral health and to treat chronic inflammatory diseases, has been named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).
According to the NAI, election as an “NAI fellow” is high professional distinction accorded to academic inventors who have demonstrated “a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and welfare of society.” Dr. Golub and other new 2016 NAI Fellows will be inducted at the Sixth Annual Conference of the NAI in Boston on April 6, 2017.
Dr. Golub’s research innovations and patents are largely related to his discoveries and development of therapeutic medications as inhibitors of tissue-destructive enzymes called the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). These novel medications have shown evidence of efficacy in a variety of oral and systemic diseases including periodontitis, dermatitis, arthritis, diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular and lung diseases. His discoveries serve as a model for dental and medical research focusing on novel multiple-action drug molecules which can inhibit both tissue-destructive enzymes (MMPs), and inflammatory mediators, produced by diseased human and animal tissues.
A faculty member in the School of Dental Medicine since 1973, Dr. Golub holds 55 United States patents and 104 international patents. The drug Periostat® (based on his seminal patents filed in 1983 and later) resulted from his work which developed novel non-antibiotic formulations and compositions of tetracyclines as inhibitors of MMPs and inflammatory mediators. Periostat® is used by clinicians internationally as a systemic adjunct for the treatment of chronic inflammatory, and bone-destructive periodontal disease. Another drug, Oracea®, also resulted from his research on non-antibiotic tetracyclines as inhibitors of inflammatory mediators, and is used to treat chronic inflammatory skin disease. Most recently, he has been developing and patenting (with a Stony Brook Professor of Chemistry and Pharmacological Sciences) newer MMP-inhibitor drugs which are not based on the tetracycline molecule.
“The honor and distinction of Dr. Golub being named an NAI fellow is well-deserved. His research has led to monumental discoveries that have translated into great medical advances for treating patients with oral health conditions and inflammatory diseases,” said Mary Truhlar, DDS, MS, Dean of the School of Dental Medicine. “Additionally, Dr. Golub’s decades of devotion to dental medicine, education and research at Stony Brook sets him apart as one of our most esteemed and accomplished colleagues and faculty members.
For the past 50 years Dr. Golub has received continuous federal research grants totaling approximately $15 million from the United States and, earlier in his career, from Canada. He has published more than 300 scientific articles about his research and discoveries in various dental, medical, pharmacology, and biology journals.
“I feel greatly honored to receive this prestigious distinction as an NAI Fellow,” said Dr. Golub. “I expect that our current collaborative work in the School of Dental Medicine with other Stony Brook University researchers, and industry partners, will lead to new discoveries based on our investigations designed to reduce both pathologic collagen breakdown, and loss of bone.”
While at Stony Brook, Dr. Golub has served as Associate Dean for Research in the School of Dental Medicine (1993 to 2003) and as Interim Dean (2008-09). He was awarded the title "SUNY Distinguished Professor" in 2003.
Dr. Golub earned his DMD (and MSc) from the University of Manitoba in Canada and a fellowship in Periodontics at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, including advanced research training at the Harvard Medical School and Mass. General Hospital, in Boston. He is a recipient of numerous national and international honors. These include a National Institutes of Health 10-year (NIH) MERIT award (1987); the Helsinki Medal (1991); the Distinguished Scientist award from the International Association of Dental Research (1998); an honorary doctorate (Medicine) from the University of Helsinki (2000); the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Manitoba (2002); the Outstanding Inventor Award from the SUNY Research Foundation (2002); and the Gold Medal for Excellence in Research from the American Dental Association (2006).
