The International Society for Experimental Hematology (ISEH) has selected Whitehead Institute Founding Member Harvey Lodish to receive the organization’s Donald Metcalf Award for 2020. This highest award of the society honors a scientist who has made outstanding contributions to basic science in the fields of hematology, immunology, stem cell research, and cell and gene therapy.
With the selection, ISEH recognizes Lodish’s 50-plus year research career, which is studded with accomplishments. His achievements include cloning, from developing red blood cells, the first glucose transport protein, GLUT1; the first anion transport protein, Band 3; as well as the receptor for Epo, the hormone that controls red cell formation. His lab has also cloned and characterized many genes important for the differentiation of stem cells into red blood cells. They have engineered red blood cells to counter many diseases and Rubius, a local biotech Lodish helped found, is developing these therapies.
“It’s wonderful to receive this award—and ironic, because although I’ve done hematology research for about sixty years, I’ve never considered myself a ‘hematologist,’” Lodish says. He first started working on red blood cells in 1958, when his high school chemistry teacher arranged for him to work in Robert Eckel’s lab at what is now Case Western Reserve University. “I worked on a project searching for the metabolite that powered red cells’ uptake of potassium, and we published our work in 1961,” recalls Lodish. “And from that time, it’s stuck with me that red cells, how they are formed, and how they function is really interesting.” Over the years, he estimates that red blood cell-focused studies have comprised about 50 percent of his lab’s work. His other key focuses have included the composition and function of adipose cells—including the function of proteins and noncoding RNAs in adipose cell formation—and the metabolism of glucose and fatty acids. In total, his work has had important implications for the treatment of anemias, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.
