Svetlana Mojsov is a Macedonian American, ex- Yugoslavian-born chemist who is a research associate professor at

Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a private biomedical research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and provides doctoral and postdoctoral education. It is classif ...

. Her research considers peptide synthesis. She discovered the

glucagon-like peptide-1 Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is a 30- or 31-amino-acid-long peptide hormone deriving from the tissue-specific posttranslational processing of the proglucagon peptide. It is produced and secreted by intestinal enteroendocrine L-cells and certa ...

and uncovered its role in glucose metabolism and the secretion of insulin. Her breakthroughs were transformed by

Novo Nordisk Novo Nordisk A/S is a Danish multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Bagsværd, Denmark, with production facilities in nine countries, and affiliates or offices in five countries. Novo Nordisk is controlled by majority shareholder ...

into therapeutic agents against diabetes and obesity.

Early life and education

Mojsov was born in Skopje, Macedonia, ex

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

and did her undergraduate degree in physical chemistry in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

. She joined the graduate program at the

in 1972, where she worked alongside

Robert Bruce Merrifield Robert Bruce Merrifield (July 15, 1921 – May 14, 2006) was an American biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1984 for the invention of solid phase peptide synthesis. Early life He was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on 15 July 1921, t ...

(1984

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

) on the synthesis of peptides. Specifically, Mojsov focused on the synthesis of glucagon, which is released by the

pancreas The pancreas is an organ of the digestive system and endocrine system of vertebrates. In humans, it is located in the abdomen behind the stomach and functions as a gland. The pancreas is a mixed or heterocrine gland, i.e. it has both an end ...

. At the time it was proposed that glucagon might help to treat

Type 2 diabetes Type 2 diabetes, formerly known as adult-onset diabetes, is a form of diabetes mellitus that is characterized by high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and relative lack of insulin. Common symptoms include increased thirst, frequent urination, ...

Research and career

In the 1980s, Mojsov moved to the

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...

, where she was made head of a peptide synthesis facility. She arrived at MGH shortly after

Joel Habener Joel Habener is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Habener worked with Svetlana Mojsov on elucidating the role of incretin hormones such as Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and Glucagon-like peptide-2 (GLP-2). Habener received cre ...

had cloned

proglucagon Proglucagon is a protein that is cleaved from preproglucagon. Preproglucagon in humans is encoded by the ''GCG'' gene. Proglucagon is a precursor of glucagon, and several other components. It is generated in the alpha cells of the pancreas and in ...

by studying

anglerfish The anglerfish are fish of the teleost order Lophiiformes (). They are bony fish named for their characteristic mode of predation, in which a modified luminescent fin ray (the esca or illicium) acts as a lure for other fish. The luminescence ...

found in

Boston Harbor Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeastern United States. History Since ...

. Mojsov worked on the identification of

(GLP-1), a hormone generated by the gut that triggers the release of insulin. The amino acid sequence of GLP-1 was similar to a

gastric inhibitory peptide Glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP), also known as Gastric inhibitory polypeptide or gastric inhibitory peptide (also abbreviated as GIP), is an inhibiting hormone of the secretin family of hormones. While it is a weak inhibitor ...

, an incretin. To try to identify whether a specific fragment of GLP-1 was an incretin, Mojsov created an incretin-antibody and developed ways to track its presence. Specifically, Mojsov identified that a stretch of 31 amino acids in the GLP-1 was an incretin. Together with Gordon Weir at the

Joslin Diabetes Center Joslin Diabetes Center is the world's largest diabetes research center, diabetes clinic, and provider of diabetes education. It is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Among the Harvard Medica ...

in Boston and Habener, Mojsov showed that small quantities of lab-synthesized GLP-1 could trigger insulin. In the 1990s, Mojsov returned to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where she went back to

and the laboratory of

Ralph M. Steinman Ralph Marvin Steinman (January 14, 1943 – September 30, 2011) was a Canadian physician and medical researcher at Rockefeller University, who in 1973 discovered and named dendritic cells while working as a postdoctoral fellow in the labora ...

(2011

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...

). In 1992, the group at

using GLP-1 synthesized by Mojsov tested the GLP-1 in humans. Drugs that emulate the action of GLP1 have been developed into treatments for obesity and diabetes by

. Eventually, the GLP-1 derivatives Mojsov synthesized were patented as peptides able to prompt the release of insulin, but with Habener as the sole-creator. Mojsov fought to have her name included in patents, with MGH eventually agreeing to amend four patents to include her name and she received her one-third of drug royalties for one year. She has continued to speak up for credit after her collaborators received various awards as new versions of GLP-1 have been approved and grown popular.

Prizes and awards

In 2023 Svetlana Mojsov was awarded the VinFuture - Innovators With Outstanding Achievements In Emerging Fields. She was named by Nature as one of the10 most influential people who shaped science in 2023. In April 2024 she was awarded the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize by the Rockefeller University for her research into hormonal triggers for insulin production that led to groundbreaking treatments for diabetes and obesity. Svetlana Mojsov was included in the 2024 Time 100 Most Influential People in the Pioneers section for the synthesis of GLP-1 and developing antibodies against it.

Selected publications

* Mojsov, Svetlana; Merrifield, R. B. (1984-12). "An improved synthesis of crystalline mammalian glucagon". European Journal of Biochemistry. 145 (3): 601–605. doi:10.1111/j.1432-1033.1984.tb08599.x.

ISSN An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit serial number used to uniquely identify a serial publication, such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs ...

0014-2956. * * * Nathan, David M; Schreiber, Eric; Fogel, Howard; Mojsov, Svetlana; Habener, Joel F (1992-02-01). "Insulinotropic Action of Glucagonlike Peptide-I-(7–37) in Diabetic and Nondiabetic Subjects". Diabetes Care. 15 (2): 270–276. doi:10.2337/diacare.15.2.270.

0149-5992

Personal life

At graduate school Mojsov met her future husband,

Michel C. Nussenzweig Michel C. Nussenzweig (born February 10, 1955) is a professor and head of the Laboratory of Molecular Immunology at The Rockefeller University and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. He is a member of both the US National Academy of M ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mojsov, Svetlana Living people Rockefeller University faculty Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century chemists 21st-century chemists 20th-century biochemists 21st-century biochemists