David E. Housman is an American geneticist. He is the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research in the

Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT ( ; also referred to as the Koch Institute, KI, or CCR/KI) is a cancer research center affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) located in Cambridge, Massachusetts ...

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

. He is known for his contribution to the discovery of the HTT gene that causes

Huntington's disease Huntington's disease (HD), also known as Huntington's chorea, is a neurodegenerative disease that is mostly inherited. The earliest symptoms are often subtle problems with mood or mental abilities. A general lack of coordination and an unst ...

Early life

David Housman was born on July 30, 1946. As a child he was a control in the original Salk polio vaccine trials in New York, an early experience that left him interested in how clinical trials could be more efficiently conducted.

Academic career

Housman received his BA in 1966 and MA in 1971 from

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...

. As one of the first postdocs in the lab of

Harvey Lodish Harvey Franklin Lodish (born November 16, 1941) is a molecular and cell biologist, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Founding Member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, and lead author of the textbook ...

at MIT, Housman showed that all mammalian proteins begin with a methionine residue transferred from a specific met-initiator tRNA. Between 1973 and 1975 he taught at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

and was on the staff of the

Ontario Cancer Institute The Ontario Cancer Institute (OCI) is the research division of Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, affiliated to the University Health Network of the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine. As Canada's first dedicated cancer hospital, it opened of ...

. He joined the MIT faculty in 1975. In his lab at MIT, he mentored Jim Gusella and

Daniel Haber Daniel A. Haber is the director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, a professor of oncology at Harvard Medical School, and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Career Haber earned his B.S. in life sci ...

. Housman has co-founded five biotech companies: Integrated Genetics (now part of

Genzyme Genzyme was an American biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since its acquisition in 2011, Genzyme (also known as Genzyme Transgenics Corp or GTC Biotherapeutics) has been a fully owned subsidiary of Sanofi. In 2010, Genzyme ...

), Somatix Therapy Corp, Viariagenics, Kenna Technologies, and Audacity Therapeutics.

Research

Housman's research is focused on the genetics of hereditary disease, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. His laboratory studies the WT1 gene, whose mutation causes the Wilms’ tumor in the kidneys, and is exploring it as a therapeutic target for leukemia. In 1978 Housman received a grant from the

Hereditary Disease Foundation The Hereditary Disease Foundation (HDF) aims to cure genetic disorders, notably Huntington's disease, by supporting basic biomedical research. History In 1968, after experiencing Huntington's disease (HD) in his wife's family, Milton Wexler was ...

to search for the gene behind Huntington's disease using

genetic marker A genetic marker is a gene or DNA sequence with a known location on a chromosome that can be used to identify individuals or species. It can be described as a variation (which may arise due to mutation or alteration in the genomic loci) that can be ...

s, and embarked on this work with Jim Gusella, then a postdoc in his lab at MIT. This led to the discovery of the neighborhood of the gene by Gusella's lab at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1983. The Housman lab is currently investigating the

modifier genes Epistasis is a phenomenon in genetics in which the effect of a gene mutation is dependent on the presence or absence of mutations in one or more other genes, respectively termed modifier genes. In other words, the effect of the mutation is dep ...

responsible for determining the age of onset for Huntington's.

Awards and honors

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

(1988) * MIT Science Council Teaching Prize (1992) *

American Academy of Microbiology The American Society for Microbiology (ASM), originally the Society of American Bacteriologists, is a professional organization for scientists who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, algae, and protozoa as well as other aspects of microbiology. It wa ...

(1994) *

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

(1994) *

National Academy of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, En ...

(1998) * National Biotechnology Award – National Conference on Biotechnology Ventures

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Housman, David Living people Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty 1946 births American geneticists Cancer researchers American Association for the Advancement of Science Brandeis University alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology Members of the National Academy of Medicine