Joseph Schlessinger (born Josip Schlessinger; 26 March 1945) is a Yugoslav-born Israeli-Americanbiochemist and biophysician. He is chair of the Pharmacology Department at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, as well as the founding director of the school's new Cancer Biology Institute.[1] His area of research is signaling through tyrosinephosphorylation, which is important in many areas of cellular regulation, especially growth control and cancer. Schlessinger's work has led to an understanding of the mechanism of transmembrane signaling by receptor tyrosine kinases[2] and how the resulting signals control cell growth and differentiation.
When Schlessinger was born on 26 March 1945 he was wrapped in a British military parachute. He was named for his grandfather. After World War II the family moved to Osijek, where another son, Darko David, was born. Imre Schlessinger once made a joke at the expense of Tito and was sentenced to several months in jail.[3][4]
The family moved to Israel in 1948.[5] Schlessinger served his compulsory military service with the Golani Brigade and was commissioned an officer. As part of his reserve duty he participated in the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War.[citation needed]
He is married to Irit Lax, also a professor in the pharmacology department at Yale. They each have two children by previous marriages.[5] In a 2009 interview with a Croatian daily newspaper Jutarnji list, he said, "Basically I am atheist. I grew up Jewish and I truly belong to the Jewish culture, but I'm not a follower of any world religion. Religion does not interest me at all."[3]
Academic career
Schlessinger was a member of the faculty of the Weizmann Institute from 1978 to 1991 and was the Ruth and Leonard Simon Professor of Cancer Research in the department of immunology from 1985 to 1991. In addition, he was a research director for Rorer Biotechnology in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, from 1985 to 1990. In 1990, he was appointed as the Milton and Helen Kimmelman Professor and chairman of the department of pharmacology at the New York University School of Medicine. He served as director of NYU Medical Center's Skirball Institute for Biomolecular Medicine, from 1998 to 2001.[7]
Schlessinger is the recipient of numerous prizes, including the Michael Landau Prize (1973),[6] the Sara Leady Prize (1980),[6][13] the Hestrin Prize (1983),[6][13] the Levinson Prize (1984),[13] a Ciba-Drew Award (1995),[13] the Antoine Lacassagne Prize (1995),[13] the Taylor Prize (2000),[13][14] and the Dan David Prize (2006).[15][16]
In 2002, he was granted an honorary doctorate from the University of Haifa.[17] He has lectured at many institutions,[6] including the Harvey Society (in the 1993–1994 Harvey Lectures series)[18] and the 2006 Keith R. Porter Lecture of the American Society for Cell Biology.[19]
In 2012, the Hope Funds for Cancer Research selected Schlessinger to receive its Award of Excellence for Clinical Development. In 2009, Schlessinger was given an award by then-President of Croatia Stjepan Mesić for outstanding service in promoting Croatia in the international scientific community and for the contribution within Croatian biomedical sciences.[4]
According to PubMed, Schlessinger has authored over 450 scientific original and review articles in the areas of pharmacology, molecular biology, biochemistry, and structural biology, mostly on tyrosine kinase signaling. Tyrosine kinase signaling plays a critical role in the control of many cellular processes including cell proliferation, differentiation, metabolism, as well as cell survival and migration.[6]
Tyrosine kinases play a particularly important role in cancer, and several agents that block their activity are now used as anti-cancer drugs, such as Imatinib or Gleevec. Among his contributions are the findings that cell surface receptors with tyrosine kinase activity signal across membrane by forming dimers when they bind to their growth factor activators. He discovered this in studies of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). He was also instrumental in understanding how the SH2 domain controls tyrosine kinase signaling by binding to phosphorylated tyrosines in activated receptors. One of the seminal findings in this work was his laboratory's cloning of Grb2 and other Adaptor proteins.
Another is the lab's cloning of FRS2, which is critical for signaling by the Fibroblast growth factor receptor. In 2001, he was ranked by the ISI Highly Cited as one of the world's top 30 most cited scientists (across all fields) in the 1990s.[23] According to ISI, his papers have been cited a total of 76,699 times.[24]
In 2006, a sexual harassment lawsuit was initiated against Yale University by Schlessinger's former secretary, Mary Beth Garceau, who alleged numerous episodes of harassment during her employment at Yale[25][26][27][28] and claimed Yale University failed to act upon her frequent complaints, causing her to resign. The case was settled out of court in mid-2007 and the terms of the settlement were not publicly disclosed.[29]
SUGEN
In 1991, Schlessinger co-founded (with Axel Ullrich and Steven Evans-Freke) the biotechnology company SUGEN to develop ATP-like molecules that would compete with ATP for binding to the catalytic site of receptor tyrosine kinases in cancer treatment. In 1999, Sugen was acquired by Pharmacia & Upjohn for $650 million[30] and in 2003, Pharmacia was acquired by Pfizer.[31] One of the pipeline products (SU11248) was ultimately developed by Pfizer as Sutent (Sunitinib),[32] approved by the FDA for treating gastrointestinal stromal tumors and renal cell carcinoma.[33]
Plexxikon
In 2001, Schlessinger co-founded Plexxikon with Sung-Hou Kim (University of California, Berkeley). Plexxikon, uses a pioneering structural biology-based platform for drug discovery.[34] In April 2011, Plexxikon was acquired by the Japanese pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo for $805 million and an additional $130 m in potential milestone payments.[35]
Kolltan Pharmaceuticals
In 2007, Schlessinger co-founded Kolltan Pharmaceuticals with Arthur Altschul Jr. Kolltan Pharmaceuticals is an early-stage biotech that develops antibodies to treat solid tumors.[36][37][38][39]
In April 2014, Kolltan received $60 million in equity financing.[40] In September 2014, Kolltan filed for an IPO and in January 2015, they withdrew the IPO.[41] In November 2016, Celldex Therapeutics acquired Kolltan for $235 million.[42]
^ abHa-Kol (Glasilo Židovske zajednice u Hrvatskoj); Joseph Schlessinger odlikovan visokim Hrvatskim odličjem; stranica 54; broj 111, listopad/rujan 2009.(in Croatian)
^ ab"The long war". Info.med.yale.edu. 28 September 2010. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
^Nancy Imelda Schafer, ISI (18 October 2004). "ISI InCites Interview". In-cites.com. Archived from the original on 13 February 2009. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
