Gregg Semenza

Gregg Semenza is a geneticist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine whose research has been recognized with multiple awards for advancements in biomedical research, including the Wiley Prize, the ASCI Korsmeyer Award, the Gairdner Award, and, most recently, the Lasker Prize for Basic Medical Research. Semenza’s discovery of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) uncovered an essential oxygen-sensing pathway that supports cellular function in a multitude of physiological and pathological contexts. In an interview with JCI’s Editor at Large Ushma Neill, Semenza describes the early work that led to the discovery of HIF and the collaborations that influenced him along the way. He also discusses how tackling fundamental questions in biology can lead to serendipitous and important discoveries that ultimately impact our understanding of human disease.

Alexander Rudensky

Alexander Rudensky’s research has defined regulatory T cells and the roles they play in autoimmunity, tolerance, allergies, infections, and cancer. After completing his PhD in Moscow in the early 1980s, Rudensky moved to the United States to study T cells under the mentorship of Charles Janeway. He is currently a professor of immunology at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. JCI Editor at Large Ushma Neill interviews Dr. Rudensky about his childhood in the Soviet Union and his early interest in mathematics and science. He discusses the mentors and coworkers who have shaped his research interests over time, and speculates about the immunological discoveries we can expect in years to come.

Laurie Glimcher

Laurie Glimcher is a world-class immunologist who discovered the master transcription factors that direct immune cells to commit and activate. She has also discovered a key anabolic bone pathway and become an expert on ER stress and lipoprotein production. Most recently, Glimcher discovered a critical signaling pathway in both tumor cells and host immune responses. All the while, she’s acted as an academic leader, at Harvard School of Public Health and as dean of Weill Cornell Medical School, and she is about to take the reins of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute as President and CEO.

Bert Vogelstein and Kenneth Kinzler

Bert Vogelstein, MD, and Kenneth Kinzler, PhD, are codirectors of the Ludwig Center at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Vogelstein and Kinzler demonstrated that colorectal cancer results from the sequential accumulation of mutations in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, establishing a paradigm for modern cancer genomics. Additionally, they discovered the tumor suppressors APC and TP53; they were the first to perform exomic sequencing in tumors; and they developed digital PCR. In an interview with JCI’s Editor-at-Large Ushma Neill, Vogelstein and Kinzler reflect on their career trajectories and past discoveries and discuss their goals as scientists.  

 

Huda Zoghbi

Dr. Huda Zoghbi is a pediatric neurologist, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator; a professor in the departments of Pediatrics, Molecular and Human Genetics, and Neurology and Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine; and the founding director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital. Her work has focused on elucidating the mechanisms underlying Rett syndrome and spinocerebellar ataxia. In an interview with JCI Editor-at-Large Ushma Neill, Dr. Zoghbi describes her childhood in Beirut, Lebanon. After her medical studies were interrupted by Lebanon’s civil war, Dr. Zoghbi enrolled at Meharry Medical College. She became interested in pediatric neurological disorders during her residency, when she observed many patients with devastating disorders that appeared to have underlying genetic causes. Dr. Zoghbi also describes her discovery of a genetic cause of Rett syndrome, a null mutation in the methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2), which researchers are now trying to target therapeutically.