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His research focuses on several important areas at the interface between molecular cell biology and medicine: the development of red blood cells, isolating and growing hematopoietic stem cells (rare adult bone marrow cells capable of generating all blood and immune cells) [ hematopoietic stem cells 220 kbps QuickTime], and the role of hormones produced by fat cells in boosting fat and sugar metabolism and in affecting resistance to insulin.
In 1988, the Lodish laboratory accomplished pioneering work on erythropoietin (Epo), a hormone produced by the kidneys that controls the production of red blood cells; the group identified and cloned the Epo receptor. The lab is working on an integrated picture of Epo's role in causing red blood cell progenitors to divide rather than die off. Most recently, Lodish and his colleagues have been probing how Epo causes survival of stressed nerve cells.
Additionally, the Lodish lab is studying hormones controlling fatty acid and glucose metabolism, broadening understanding of obesity and type 2 diabetes. In 1995, the lab cloned adipocyte complement-related protein (ACRP30), a hormone made exclusively by fat cells. The Lodish lab later showed that a fragment of ACRP30, called gACRP, when administered in small doses causes profound and sustained weight loss in obese mice eating unlimited quantities of fat and sugar. ACRP causes muscle to burn fatty acids faster so they are not stored as fat and also increases the metabolism of the sugar glucose. Lodish and colleagues continue to make advances in studying the roles of this and other fat-cell hormones.
A Founding Member of the Whitehead Institute, Lodish joined the MIT faculty in 1968 and has been a professor of biology since 1976 and professor of bioengineering since 1999. He earned his PhD at Rockefeller University in 1966. He was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1986, a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1987, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999.
Selected Publications
Chen, C-Z., L. Li, Lodish, H.F., and D. P. Bartel. (2004). MicroRNAs modulate hematopoietic lineage differentiation. Science 303, 83-86.
Bogan, J., N. Hendon, A. McKee, T-s Tsao, and Lodish, H.F. (2003). Functional cloning of TUG as a regulator of GLUT4 glucose transporter trafficking. Nature 425: 727 - 733.
Chen, C-Z., L. Li, M. Li, and Lodish, H.F. (2003). The EndoglinPositive Sca-1Positive RhodamineLow phenotype defines a near homogeneous population of long-term repopulating hematopoietic stem cells. Immunity 19: 525 - 533.
Zhang, J., M. Socolovsky, A. W. Gross, and Lodish, H.F. (2003). Role of Ras signaling in erythroid differentiation of mouse fetal liver cells: functional analysis by a flow cytometry-based novel culture system. Blood 102: 3938 - 3946.
Tsao, T-s., E. Tomas, H. E. Murrey, C. Hug, D. H. Lee, N. B. Ruderman, J. E. Heuser, and Lodish, H.F. (2003). Role of disulfide bonds in Acrp30/adiponectin structure and signaling specificity: Different oligomers activate different signal transduction pathways. J. Biol. Chem. 278: 50810 - 50817.
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