William Kaelin | |
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 Kaelin in 2019 | |
| Born | (1957-11-23)November 23, 1957 (age 67) New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Education | Duke University (BS,MD) |
| Spouse | Carolyn Scerbo |
| Awards | Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (2016) Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2019) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Oncology |
| Institutions | Dana–Farber Cancer Institute Harvard University Howard Hughes Medical Institute[1] |
William G. Kaelin Jr. (born November 23, 1957) is an American Nobel laureatephysician-scientist. He is a professor of medicine atHarvard University and theDana–Farber Cancer Institute. His laboratory studiestumor suppressor proteins.In 2016, Kaelin received theAlbert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research and theAACR Princess Takamatsu Award.[2][3]He also won theNobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2019 along withPeter J. Ratcliffe andGregg L. Semenza.[4][5]
Kaelin was born inNew York City on November 23, 1957, to William George and Nancy Priscilla (Horn) Kaelin.[6][7] Kaelin earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics and chemistry atDuke University, and stayed to attain an MD, graduating in 1982. He did his residency in internal medicine atJohns Hopkins School of Medicine and his fellowship in oncology atDana–Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). After deciding as an undergraduate that research was not a strength of his, at DFCI he did research in the lab ofDavid Livingston, where he found success in the study ofretinoblastoma.[1] In 1992, he set up his own lab at DFCI down the hall from Livingston's where he investigated hereditary forms of cancer such asvon Hippel–Lindau disease. He became a professor atHarvard Medical School in 2002.[8]
He became assistant director of Basic Science at the Dana–Farber/Harvard Cancer Center in 2008. His research at Dana–Farber has focused on understanding the role of mutations in tumor suppressor genes in cancer development. His major work has been on theretinoblastoma, von Hippel–Lindau, andp53 tumor suppressor genes.
His work has been funded by theNational Institutes of Health,American Cancer Society,Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and others.[9]
He serves as vice-chair of Scientific Programs on theDamon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Board of Directors and Chair of the Damon Runyon Physician-Scientist Training Award selection committee and is a member of the board of directors atEli Lilly[8] and theStand Up to Cancer scientific advisory committee.[10]
Following his post-doctorate, Kaelin set up a laboratory at Dana-Farber in 1993 to continue his research on tumor suppression. He had become interested inVon Hippel–Lindau disease (VHL). VHL tumors, caused by gene mutation, were known to beangiogenic, creating blood vessels that secretederythropoietin (EPO), a hormone known to be part of the body's mechanic to react tohypoxia, or low oxygen levels in the blood. Kaelin hypothesized that there may be a connection between the formation of VHL tumors and the deficiency of the body to detect oxygen.[11] Kaelin's research found that in VHL subjects, there are genes that express the formation of a protein critical in the EPO process, but which the mutation suppressed. Kaelin's work aligned with that ofPeter J. Ratcliffe andGregg Semenza who separately had identified a two-part protein,hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF) that was essential to EPO production and which was triggered by oxygen levels in the blood. Kaelin's work found that the VHL protein would help regulate the HIF, and in subjects where the VHL proteins were not present, the HIF would overproduce EPO and lead to cancer.[12] The combined work of Kaelin, Ratcliffe, and Semenza identified the pathway of how cells detect and react to oxygen levels in the blood, and have led to the development of drugs to help patients withanaemia andkidney failure.[12]
He was married to breast cancer surgeonCarolyn Kaelin from 1988 until her death fromglioblastoma in 2015. They have two children.[13]
including the Nobel Lecture 7 December 2019The von Hippel-Lindau Tumor Suppressor Protein: Insights into Oxygen Sensing| International | |
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| Academics | |
