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Gregg Leonard Semenza (born July 12, 1956) is a Pediatrician and Professor of Genetic Medicine at the
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1893, the School of Medicine shares a campus with the Johns Hopkins Hospi ...
. 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 50 ...
. He is known for his discovery of
HIF-1 Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) are transcription factors that respond to decreases in available oxygen in the cellular environment, or hypoxia. They are only present in parahoxozoan animals. Discovery The HIF transcriptional complex w ...
, which allows cancer cells to adapt to oxygen-poor environments. He shared the 2019
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, accordi ...
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 Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushin ...
, New York City; he and his four siblings grew up in
Westchester County, New York Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...
.


Education and career

Semenza grew up in
Westchester County, New York Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...
and attended Washington Irving Intermediate School in
Tarrytown, New York Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North ...
. 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 Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
, he studied medical genetics and mapped genes on chromosome 21. For his PhD at the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...
, he sequenced genes linked to the recessive genetic disorder,
beta-thalassemia Beta thalassemias (β thalassemias) are a group of inherited blood disorders. They are forms of thalassemia caused by reduced or absent synthesis of the beta chains of hemoglobin that result in variable outcomes ranging from severe anemia to cl ...
. 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 the ...
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 Jam ...
before completing a postdoctoral fellowship at
Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...
. Semenza became the founding director of the Vascular Program at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering following his post-doctorate.


Research

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 th ...
(EPO), known to be part of the means for the body to react to hypoxia, or low oxygen levels in the blood. Semenza identified the gene sequences that expressed
hypoxia-inducible factors Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) are transcription factors that respond to decreases in available oxygen in the cellular environment, or hypoxia. They are only present in parahoxozoan animals. Discovery The HIF transcriptional complex w ...
(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
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 ...
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 Anemia or anaemia (British English) is a blood disorder in which the blood has a reduced ability to carry oxygen due to a lower than normal number of red blood cells, or a reduction in the amount of hemoglobin. When anemia comes on slowly, th ...
and
kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as end-stage kidney disease, is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney failure is classified as eit ...
.


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 Scie ...
according to Retraction Watch. As of 2022, concerns about the integrity of images in 52 articles coauthored by Semenza have been raised on
PubPeer PubPeer is a website that allows users to discuss and review scientific research after publication, i.e. post-publication peer review. The site has served as a whistleblowing platform, in that it highlighted shortcomings in several high-profile ...
. 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 Genotyping is the process of determining differences in the genetic make-up (genotype) of an individual by examining the individual's DNA sequence using biological assays and comparing it to another individual's sequence or a reference sequence. ...
facilities.


Awards

* 1989: Lucille P. Markey Scholar Award in Biomedical Science, Markey Trust * 1995: Elected Member of the
American Society for Clinical Investigation The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), established in 1908, is one of the oldest and most respected medical honor societies in the United States. Organization and purpose The ASCI is an honorary society to which more than 2,800 ph ...
* 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 Nat ...
* 2008: Elected Member of the
Association of American Physicians The Association of American Physicians (AAP) is an honorary medical society founded in 1885 by the Canadian physician Sir William Osler and six other distinguished physicians of his era for "the advancement of scientific and practical medicine." ...
* 2010:
Gairdner Foundation International Award The Canada Gairdner International Award is given annually by the Gairdner Foundation at a special dinner to five individuals for outstanding discoveries or contributions to medical science. Receipt of the Gairdner is traditionally considered a ...
* 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, Eng ...
* 2012: The Scientific Grand Prize of the Lefoulon-Delalande Foundation * 2012: Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award,
American Society for Clinical Investigation The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), established in 1908, is one of the oldest and most respected medical honor societies in the United States. Organization and purpose The ASCI is an honorary society to which more than 2,800 ph ...
* 2014:
Wiley Prize The Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences is intended to recognize breakthrough research in pure or applied life science research that is distinguished by its excellence, originality and impact on our understanding of biological systems and processes. ...
* 2016:
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 50 ...
(with
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
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 ...
) * 2019:
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, accordi ...
(with
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
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 ...
), 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