Gregg Leonard Semenza (born July 12, 1956) is a Pediatrician and Professor of Genetic Medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He serves as the director of the vascular program at the Institute for Cell Engineering. He is a 2016 recipient of the

Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research The Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research is one of the prizes awarded by the Lasker Foundation for a fundamental discovery that opens up a new area of biomedical science. The award frequently precedes a Nobel Prize in Medicine; almost 5 ...

. He is known for his discovery of HIF-1, which allows cancer cells to adapt to oxygen-poor environments. He shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for "discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability" with

William Kaelin Jr. William G. Kaelin Jr. (born November 23, 1957) is an American Nobel Laureate physician-scientist. He is a professor of medicine at Harvard University and the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute. His laboratory studies tumor suppressor proteins. In 201 ...

and

Peter J. Ratcliffe Sir Peter John Ratcliffe, FRS, FMedSci (born 14 May 1954) is a British Nobel Laureate physician-scientist who is trained as a nephrologist. He was a practising clinician at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford and Nuffield Professor of Clinical ...

Early life

Semenza was born on July 12, 1956, in Flushing, New York City; he and his four siblings grew up in Westchester County, New York.

Education and career

Semenza grew up in Westchester County, New York and attended Washington Irving Intermediate School in Tarrytown, New York. He then attended Sleepy Hollow High School where he was a mid-fielder on the soccer team and graduated in 1974. As an undergraduate at Harvard University, he studied medical genetics and mapped genes on chromosome 21. For his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania, he sequenced genes linked to the recessive genetic disorder, beta-thalassemia. Semenza subsequently completed his

Pediatrics Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until th ...

residency at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

before completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University. Semenza became the founding director of the Vascular Program at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering following his post-doctorate.

Research

HIF Nobel Prize Physiology Medicine 2019 Hegasy ENG

While a post-doctorate researcher at Johns Hopkins, Semenza evaluated gene expression in

transgenic A transgene is a gene that has been transferred naturally, or by any of a number of genetic engineering techniques, from one organism to another. The introduction of a transgene, in a process known as transgenesis, has the potential to change the ...

animals to determine how this affected the production of

erythropoietin Erythropoietin (; EPO), also known as erythropoetin, haematopoietin, or haemopoietin, is a glycoprotein cytokine secreted mainly by the kidneys in response to cellular hypoxia; it stimulates red blood cell production (erythropoiesis) in the bo ...

(EPO), known to be part of the means for the body to react to

hypoxia Hypoxia means a lower than normal level of oxygen, and may refer to: Reduced or insufficient oxygen * Hypoxia (environmental), abnormally low oxygen content of the specific environment * Hypoxia (medical), abnormally low level of oxygen in the tis ...

, or low oxygen levels in the blood. Semenza identified the gene sequences that expressed hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF) proteins. Semenza's work showed that the HIF proteins consisted of two parts; ''HIF-1β'', a stable base to most conditions, and ''HIF-1α'' that deteriorated when nominal oxygen levels were present. ''HIF-1α'' was further found essential to the EPO production process, as test subjects modified to be deficient in ''HIF-1α'' were found to have malformed blood vessels and decreased EPO levels. These HIF proteins were found across multiple test animals. Semenza further found that ''HIF-1α'' overproduction could lead to cancer in other subjects. Semenza's research overlapped with that of

William Kaelin William G. Kaelin Jr. (born November 23, 1957) is an American Nobel Laureate physician-scientist. He is a professor of medicine at Harvard University and the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute. His laboratory studies tumor suppressor proteins. In 201 ...

and

on determining the mechanism of oxygen detection in cells, and how EPO production is regulated by HIF and other factors. This has led to the development of drugs that help regulate these processes for patients with anaemia and kidney failure.

Retractions

In 2011 Semenza retracted from Biochemical Journal one paper coauthored with Naoki Mori (and other collaborators), and in 2022 retracted four papers from

PNAS ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of Scien ...

according to Retraction Watch. As of 2022, concerns about the integrity of images in 52 articles coauthored by Semenza have been raised on PubPeer. This has led to investigations by the journals where these articles appeared, resulting in many corrections, retractions and expressions of concern.

Personal life

Semenza is married to Laura Kasch-Semenza, whom he had met while at Johns Hopkins, and who currently operates one of the university's genotyping facilities.

Awards

* 1989: Lucille P. Markey Scholar Award in Biomedical Science, Markey Trust * 1995: Elected Member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation * 2000: E. Mead Johnson Award for Research in Pediatrics, Society for Pediatric Research * 2008: Elected Member of the

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 ...

* 2008: Elected Member of the Association of American Physicians * 2010: Gairdner Foundation International Award * 2012: Elected to the

Institute 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, E ...

* 2012: The Scientific Grand Prize of the Lefoulon-Delalande Foundation * 2012: Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award, American Society for Clinical Investigation * 2014: Wiley Prize * 2016:

(with

and

) * 2019: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (with

and

), awarded by the Nobel Prize committee "for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability."

References

External links

* including the Nobel Lecture on 7 December 2019 ''Hypoxia-Inducible Factors in Physiology and Medicine'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Semenza, Gregg L. 1956 births Living people 20th-century American physicians 20th-century American scientists 21st-century American physicians 21st-century American scientists American medical researchers American Nobel laureates Duke University alumni Harvard University alumni Johns Hopkins University faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine People from Flushing, Queens Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni Physicians from New York City Scientists from New York City Recipients of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research Members of the National Academy of Medicine