Harvey F. Lodish
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research
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Primary Section: 22, Cellular and Developmental Biology Secondary Section: 41, Medical Genetics, Hematology, and Oncology Membership Type:
Member
(elected 1987)
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Biosketch
Dr. Lodish received his A.B. degree Summa Cum Laude in Chemistry and Mathematics from Kenyon College in 1962 and his Ph.D. degree in genetics from the Rockefeller University in 1966. Following postdoctoral research with Drs. Sydney Brenner and Francis Crick, he joined the MIT Department of Biology. He was a Founding Member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. In 1999, he also became Professor of Biological Engineering. He is fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Board of Trustees of Boston Children's Hospital. He is the lead author of the textbook Molecular Cell Biology; the ninth edition was published in January 2021. During 2004 he served as President of the American Society for Cell Biology. From 2007 - 2015, he was the Founding Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, with oversight of the state's 10-year, $1 billion investment in life sciences. He trained over 200 students and fellows; two have received the Nobel Prize and eight have been elected to the US National Academy of Sciences or the National Academy of Medicine.
Research Interests
His laboratory has identified and characterized many novel genes that are important for terminal stages of erythropoiesis, including gene induction and repression, chromatin condensation, and enucleation. A major focus is identifying genes and extracellular signals that regulate the self- renewal, proliferation, and differentiation of early BFU-E erythroid progenitor cells, and in parallel identifying compounds that could be used to treat erythropoietin- resistant anemias. His group has also shown that red blood cells can be used as vehicles for the introduction of novel therapeutics, immunomodulatory agents, and diagnostic imaging probes into the human body. His group has also identified several genes and proteins involved in development of insulin resistance and stress responses in adipose cells. They have identified many lineage- specific microRNAs and long non-coding RNAs that are essential for the differentiation and function of erythroid and myeloid cells, and others essential for formation of white and/or brown adipose cells. They are identifying their mRNA and protein targets, and studying their roles and mechanisms during cell development and disease.
