Gregg L. Semenza

Gregg Leonard Semenza (born July 12, 1956) is an American pediatrician and Professor of Genetic Medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He serves as the director of the vascular program at the Institute for Cell Engineering. He is a 2016 recipient of the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research. He is known for his discovery of HIF-1, which allows cancer cells to adapt to oxygen-poor environments. He shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for "discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability" with William Kaelin Jr. and Peter J. Ratcliffe. Semenza has had thirteen research papers retracted due to issues such as duplicated images and potential data manipulation.

Early life Semenza was born on July 12, 1956, in Flushing, New York City; he and his four siblings grew up in Westchester County, New York. His father's family was of Italian descent whereas his mother's family was of German-English-Irish descent.

Education and career Semenza grew up in Westchester County, New York and attended Washington Irving Intermediate School in Tarrytown, New York. He then attended Sleepy Hollow High School where he was a mid-fielder on the soccer team and graduated in 1974. Semenza subsequently completed his Pediatrics residency at Duke University before completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University. Semenza identified the gene sequences that expressed hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF) proteins. Semenza's work showed that the HIF proteins consisted of two parts; HIF-1β, a stable base to most conditions, and HIF-1α that deteriorated when nominal oxygen levels were present. HIF-1α was further found essential to the EPO production process, as test subjects modified to be deficient in HIF-1α were found to have malformed blood vessels and decreased EPO levels. These HIF proteins were found across multiple test animals.

Retractions In 2011, Semenza retracted a Biochemical Journal paper that he had coauthored with Naoki Mori and others. In 2022, he retracted four papers from PNAS, according to Retraction Watch. As of 2022, concerns about the integrity of images in 52 articles coauthored by Semenza have been raised on PubPeer. This has led to investigations by the journals where these articles appeared, resulting in many corrections, retractions and expressions of concern.

In 2023, additional papers in PNAS and Oncogene were retracted.

As of 2024, Semenza has had 13 of his research papers retracted due to issues such as potential improper manipulation and/or duplication of images.

Personal life Semenza is married to Laura Kasch-Semenza, whom he had met while at Johns Hopkins, and who currently operates one of the university's genotyping facilities. 1995: Elected Member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation 2000: E. Mead Johnson Award for Research in Pediatrics, Society for Pediatric Research 2008: Elected Member of the National Academy of Sciences 2008: Elected Member of the Association of American Physicians 2012: Elected to the Institute of Medicine 2012: The Scientific Grand Prize of the Lefoulon-Delalande Foundation 2012: Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award, American Society for Clinical Investigation 2014: Wiley Prize 2016: Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (with William Kaelin and Peter J. Ratcliffe) 2019: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (with William Kaelin and Peter J. Ratcliffe), awarded by the Nobel Prize committee "for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability."