Rudolf Jaenisch

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Rudolf Jaenisch

| image = Jaenisch 2003 by Sam Ogden.jpg

| caption = Jaenisch in 2003

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1942|4|22}}

| birth_place = Wölfelsgrund, Germany (now Międzygórze, Poland)

| citizenship = German

| fields = Biochemistry
Genetics
Medicine

| workplaces = {{Plainlist|

| alma_mater = University of Munich (M.D., 1967)

| doctoral_advisor =

| academic_advisors = Arnold Levine

| doctoral_students =

| known_for = {{Plainlist|

| awards = {{Plainlist|

Gruber Prize in Genetics (2001)
Robert Koch Prize (2002)
Max Delbrück Medal (2006)
Massry Prize from the Keck School of Medicine (2008)
Wolf Prize in Medicine (2011)
National Medal of Science (2011)}}

| website = {{URL|http://wi.mit.edu/people/faculty/jaenisch}}

}}

Rudolf Jaenisch (born on April 22, 1942) is a professor of biology at MIT and a founding member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.{{Cite web |url=http://wi.mit.edu/about/history/founders |title=Founders |access-date=January 24, 2020 |archive-date=October 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025085413/http://wi.mit.edu/about/history/founders |url-status=dead }} He is a pioneer of transgenic science, in which an animal’s genetic makeup is altered. Jaenisch has focused on creating genetically modified mice to study cancer, epigenetic reprogramming and neurological diseases.{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1016/0092-8674(92)90611-F| title = Targeted mutation of the DNA methyltransferase gene results in embryonic lethality| journal = Cell| volume = 69| issue = 6| pages = 915–926| year = 1992| last1 = Li | first1 = E. | last2 = Bestor | first2 = T. H. | last3 = Jaenisch | first3 = R. | pmid=1606615| s2cid = 19879601}}{{Cite web |title=Rudolf Jaenisch |url=http://wi.mit.edu/people/faculty/jaenisch |access-date=September 17, 2014 |website=Whitehead Institute}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=kHgeAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Jaenisch,+rudolf%22+1942]{{Scopus|id= 35418963400}}

Research

Jaenisch's first breakthrough occurred in 1974, when he and Beatrice Mintz showed that foreign DNA could be integrated into the DNA of early mouse embryos{{cite journal |author=Jaenisch R, Mintz B |title=Simian virus 50 DNA sequences in DNA of healthy adult mice derived from preimplantation blastocysts injected with viral DNA |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=71 |issue=4 |pages=1250–1254 |year=1974 |pmid=4364530 |doi=10.1073/pnas.71.4.1250 |pmc=388203|bibcode=1974PNAS...71.1250J |doi-access=free }} They injected retrovirus DNA into early mouse embryos and showed that leukemia DNA sequences had integrated into the mouse genome and also into that of its offspring. These mice were the first transgenic mammals in history.{{Cite journal

| last1 = Brownlee | first1 = C.

| title = Inaugural Article: Biography of Rudolf Jaenisch

| doi = 10.1073/pnas.0406416101

| journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

| volume = 101

| issue = 39

| pages = 13982–13984

| year = 2004

| pmid = 15383657

| pmc = 521108

| bibcode = 2004PNAS..10113982B

| doi-access = free

}}

His current research focuses on the epigenetic regulation of gene expression,{{Cite journal

| doi = 10.1038/ng1089

| pmid = 12610534

| year = 2003

| last1 = Jaenisch | first1 = R. | author-link1 = Rudolf Jaenisch

| last2 = Bird | first2 = A.| author-link2 = Adrian Bird

| title = Epigenetic regulation of gene expression: how the genome integrates intrinsic and environmental signals

| volume = 33 Suppl

| issue = 3s

| pages = 245–254

| journal = Nature Genetics

| s2cid = 17270515

}} which has led to major advances in creating embryonic stem cells and "induced pluripotent stem" (IPS) cells, as well as their therapeutic applications. In 2007, Jaenisch’s laboratory was one of the first three laboratories worldwide to report reprogramming cells taken from a mouse's tail into IPS cells. Jaenisch has since shown therapeutic benefits of IPS cell-based treatment for sickle-cell anemia and Parkinson's disease in mice. Additional research focuses on the epigenetic mechanisms involved in cancer and brain development.

Jaenisch’s therapeutic cloning research deals exclusively with mice, but he is an advocate for using the same techniques with human cells in order to advance embryonic stem cell research.{{cite book|last1=Levine|first1=Aaron|title=Cloning : a beginner's guide|date=2007|publisher=Oneworld|location=Oxford|isbn=9781851685226|pages=110–111, 162|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=igKC4_OnPC8C&pg=PA110|access-date=August 4, 2015}} However, in 2001, Jaenisch made a public case against human reproductive cloning, testifying before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee{{Cite news|url = http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2001/cloning-0404|title = Jaenisch makes public case against human cloning|last = Kumar|first = Seema|date = April 4, 2001|work = MIT News Office|access-date = September 17, 2014}} and writing an editorial in Science magazine.{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1126/science.1060463 | pmid = 11286275 | title = DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY: Don't Clone Humans! | journal = Science | volume = 291 | issue = 5513 | pages = 2552 | year = 2001 | last1 = Jaenisch | first1 = R. | last2 = Wilmut | first2 = I | s2cid = 83375514 | doi-access = free }}

Career

Jaenisch received his doctorate in medicine from the University of Munich in 1967, preferring the laboratory to the clinic. He became a postdoc at the Max Planck Institute in Munich, studying bacteriophages.{{cite journal|title=Rudolf Jaenisch Featured Science Watch Newsletter Interview|journal=ScienceWatch|date=2009|volume=March|url=http://archive.sciencewatch.com/inter/aut/2009/09-mar/09marJaen/|access-date=August 4, 2015}} He left Germany in 1970 for research positions at Princeton University, Fox Chase Institute for Cancer Research and the Salk Institute. He returned to Germany in 1977 to become the head of the Department of Tumor Virology at the Heinrich Pette Institute at the University of Hamburg. He arrived at MIT in 1984.{{Cite news|url = http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2011/medal-of-science-jaenisch|title = Whitehead member, biology professor Rudolf Jaenisch wins National Medal of Science|last = Fearer|first = Matt|date = September 27, 2011|work = MIT News Office|access-date = September 17, 2014}} He participated in the 2005 science conference on human cloning at the United Nations and serves on the science advisory boards of the Genetics Policy Institute{{Cite web|url = http://www.genpol.org/about_advisory_science.html|title = Advisory Board|access-date = September 14, 2014|website = Genetics Policy Institute}} and Stemgent.{{Cite web|url = https://www.stemgent.com/profiles/rudolf_jaenisch|title = Rudolf Jaenisch, M.D.|access-date = September 14, 2014|website = Stemgent}} He also served on the Life Sciences jury for the Infosys Prize in 2010.

Awards and honors

2001 Inaugural Genetics Prize of the Gruber Foundation{{cite web|title=2001 Gruber Genetics Prize Press Release Rudolf Jaenisch, Gene Transfer Pioneer, Receives First-Ever International Genetics Prize|url=http://gruber.yale.edu/genetics/press/2001-gruber-genetics-prize-press-release|access-date=August 4, 2015|website=Gruber Foundation|date=2001}}
2002 Robert Koch Prize
2003 Election as a member of U.S. National Academy of Sciences{{cite web|url=http://www.nasonline.org/site/Dir?sid=1011&view=basic&pg=srch |title=NAS Membership Directory |publisher=U.S. National Academy of Sciences |access-date={{Format date|2013|4|30}}}}
2006 Max Delbrück Medal{{cite news|last1=Bachtler|first1=Barbara|title=Professor Rudolf Jaenisch Receives Max Delbrück Medal|url=https://www.mdc-berlin.de/888199/en/news/archive/2006/20061201-professor_rudolf_jaenisch_receives_max_del|access-date=August 4, 2015|work=MDC News|date=December 1, 2006}}
2007 Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science{{Cite web|title = The Vilcek Foundation -|url = http://www.vilcek.org/news/press-release/dr-rudolf.html|website = www.vilcek.org|access-date = November 11, 2015}}
2008 Massry Prize from the Keck School of Medicine
2009 Ernst Schering Prize{{cite web|title=Ernst Schering Prize|url=http://www.scheringstiftung.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=38&Itemid=28&lang=en|website=Ernst Schering Foundation|access-date=August 4, 2015}}
2010 National Medal of Science{{Cite web|url = https://www.nsf.gov/od/nms/recip_details.jsp?recip_id=5300000000474|title = The President's National Medal of Science|access-date = September 17, 2014|publisher = National Science Foundation}}
2011 Wolf Prize in Medicine{{Cite web|url = http://www.wolffund.org.il/index.php?dir=site&page=winners&cs=277&language=eng|title = Rudolf Jaenisch Winner of Wolf Prize in Medicine - 2011|access-date = September 17, 2014|website = Wolf Foundation}}
2012 [http://www.isscr.org International Society for Stem Cell Research] McEwen Innovation Award{{Cite web|title=ISSCR Award for Innovation|url=https://www.isscr.org/about-isscr/awards/mcewen-award-for-innovation|access-date=2022-01-19|website=www.isscr.org}}
2013 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science from the Franklin Institute{{cite journal|title=2013 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science presented to Rudolf Jaenisch|journal=Journal of the Franklin Institute|pages=2587–2590|issue=7|volume=352|date=2015|doi=10.1016/j.jfranklin.2015.03.004|last1=Ferrone|first1=Frank A.}}
2013 Passano Award
2014 Otto Warburg Medal{{cite web|url= http://www.otto-warburg-medaille.org/index.php/previous-award-winners.html|title= Otto-Warburg-Medal|publisher= GBM|access-date= January 12, 2014|archive-date= November 4, 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161104134840/http://otto-warburg-medaille.org/index.php/previous-award-winners.html|url-status= dead}}
2015 March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology{{cite web|title=Whitehead's Rudolf Jaenisch honored with March of Dimes Prize|url=http://wi.mit.edu/news/archive/2015/whitehead-s-rudolf-jaenisch-honored-march-dimes-prize|website=Whitehead Institute|access-date=July 4, 2017|date=April 27, 2015}}
2016 Semantic Scholar AI program included Jaenisch on its list of top ten most influential biomedical researchers.{{Cite web|last=Chawla|first=Dalmeet Singh|date=October 17, 2017|title=Who's the most influential biomedical scientist? Computer program guided by artificial intelligence says it knows|url=https://www.science.org/content/article/who-s-most-influential-biomedical-scientist-computer-program-guided-artificial|access-date=September 22, 2020|website=Science {{!}} AAAS|language=en}}