Zena Werb (24 March 1945 – 16 June 2020) was a professor and the Vice Chair of Anatomy at the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It con ...

. She was also the co-leader of the Cancer, Immunity, and Microenvironment Program at the Hellen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and a member of the Executive Committee of the Sabre-Sandler Asthma Basic Research Center at UCSF. Her research focused on features of the microenvironment surrounding cells, with particular interest in the

extracellular matrix In biology, the extracellular matrix (ECM), also called intercellular matrix, is a three-dimensional network consisting of extracellular macromolecules and minerals, such as collagen, enzymes, glycoproteins and hydroxyapatite that provide s ...

and the role of its

protease A protease (also called a peptidase, proteinase, or proteolytic enzyme) is an enzyme that catalyzes (increases reaction rate or "speeds up") proteolysis, breaking down proteins into smaller polypeptides or single amino acids, and spurring the ...

enzyme Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products ...

s in

cell signaling In biology, cell signaling (cell signalling in British English) or cell communication is the ability of a cell to receive, process, and transmit signals with its environment and with itself. Cell signaling is a fundamental property of all cellula ...

Early life and education

Zena Werb was born in Germany in 1945 in the

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentra ...

(KZ Bergen-Belsen), a few weeks before the camp was liberated. Both of her parents, who were Polish-Jewish, survived the war, with her father having fled to Italy. Her family was able to reunite at a refugee camp in Italy in 1947; they emigrated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in 1948, where Werb was raised on a farm in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. Though her father was previously a mathematician, he became a farmer. Werb received her

B.Sc. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

Biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

from the

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

in 1966, having changed her major from

geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' so ...

after being told there were no accommodations for women at a field site. She received her

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in Cell Biology from Rockefeller University in 1971, working under the supervision of Zanvil Cohn on a

thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

titled "Dynamics of macrophage membrane cholesterol". After graduation she worked at the Strangeways Research Laboratory in Cambridge, United Kingdom as a

postdoctoral fellow A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...

with John T. Dingle from 1971 to 1973 and as a research associate from 1973 to 1975.

Academic career

Werb spent a year as a visiting assistant professor at

Dartmouth Medical School The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth is the graduate medical school of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The fourth oldest medical school in the United States, it was founded in 1797 by New England physician Nathan Smith. It is o ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

before moving to the

in 1976, where she became a

full professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

in 1983. She served as president of the

American Society for Cell Biology The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) is a professional society that was founded in 1960.sabbaticals, and in 2007 she spent a sabbatical at the

Max Planck Institute Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

through an Alexander von Humboldt Research Award. Werb wrote and gave interviews on her experiences as a woman in science, describing the environment in which she trained as sexist and noting that, despite improvements in women's representation in the sciences since her training, sexism "has gone underground" and low representation of women in top positions remains a problem. She was a member of the Editorial Board for ''Developmental Cell''.

Awards and honors

* FASEB Excellence in Science Award from the

Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) is a non-profit organization that is the principal umbrella organization of U.S. societies in the field of biological and medical research. This organization organizes academ ...

(1966) * Guggenheim Fellowship (1985-6) * American Association for Cancer Research Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Memorial Lectureship (2001) * UCSF Annual Faculty Research Lectureship (2001) * Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

(2003) *

E.B. Wilson Medal The E.B. Wilson Medal is the American Society for Cell Biology's highest honor for science and is presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for significant and far-reaching contributions to cell biology over the course of a career. It is name ...

from the

American Society for Cell Biology The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) is a professional society that was founded in 1960. * Member of the

United States 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 ...

(2010) * UCSF Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award (2015)

Research

Werb's research group studies the effects on cells of the

microenvironment and its component

s, particularly

matrix metalloproteinase Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), also known as matrix metallopeptidases or matrixins, are metalloproteinases that are calcium-dependent zinc-containing endopeptidases; other family members are adamalysins, serralysins, and astacins. The MMPs be ...

s. The group also investigates the role of these effects on biological processes such as stem cell maturation and

neoplasia A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

, for which they use

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a r ...

in mice as a model. Her work in establishing the active role of the ECM in normal

and in cancer progression is widely recognized as highly influential.

References

External links

Papers
on

PubMed PubMed is a free search engine accessing primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health maintain t ...

Fiona M. Watt, "Zena Werb", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2021)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Werb, Zena 1945 births 2020 deaths Bergen-Belsen concentration camp survivors Canadian people of Polish-Jewish descent Jewish Canadian scientists German emigrants to Canada American women biologists Canadian women biologists University of California, San Francisco faculty Rockefeller University alumni University of Toronto alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Academics from Ontario 20th-century Canadian biologists 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century Canadian biologists 21st-century American women scientists 20th-century Canadian women scientists 21st-century Canadian women scientists Members of the National Academy of Medicine