Richard J. Ablin, PhD '67, of Tucson, Ariz.

Richard J. Ablin was a research assistant, research graduate assistant and research fellow at UB while pursuing his doctorate in biology. After earning his degree, he continued his training in immunology as a United States Public Health Service postdoctoral fellow in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences under Distinguished Professor Ernest Witebsky, MD.

In 1970, in collaboration with investigators at the Millard Fillmore Hospital Research Institute in Buffalo, Ablin discovered prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a protein produced by the cells of the prostate gland that is often elevated in the presence of prostate cancer. That groundbreaking discovery, for which he was nominated for the Lasker Award, led to the creation of the PSA test.

A research professor in the departments of immunobiology and pathology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, Arizona Cancer Center and BIO5 Institute, Ablin also is a pioneer in cryosurgery, which is the use of extreme cold to destroy malignant and benign tumors, as well as "cryoimmunotherapy" for the treatment of cancer.

His research in immunobiology, the study of the immune response and the biological aspects of immunity to disease, as well as cryosurgery and cryoimmunotherapy, is aimed at providing improved methods for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Cancer is a systemic disease that affects the entire body and most people who succumb to it do so from its metastasis (spread). According to Ablin, cryosurgery is a unique "double-edged sword" for cancer treatment because the intense cold not only destroys the primary tumor, but also causes an immune response that limits and/or destroys metastases that are local, as well as elsewhere in the body.

Among other national and international awards, Ablin recently received the degree of DSc, honoris causa, from Lake Forest College, his undergraduate alma mater, and was honored as the recipient of the first Award for Scientific Excellence by The Haakon Ragde Foundation for Advanced Cancer Studies in recognition "for his invaluable contribution to humankind and exceptional scientific insight and valiant fight against cancer."