MD Anderson genetics expert elected to National Academy of Sciences
BY Ron Gilmore
May 09, 2017
Medically Reviewed | Last reviewed by an MD Anderson Cancer Center medical professional on May 09, 2017
Guillermina Lozano, Ph.D., chair of Genetics at MD Anderson, is one of 84 new members and 21 foreign associates elected to the National Academy of Sciences May 3. Members are elected for their “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.”
The academy is the most prestigious scientific society in the U.S., established under a congressional charter signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1863. With the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council, the NAS provides science, technology and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations.
Lozano is a pioneer in describing the p53 pathway, a recognized tumor suppressor gene associated with cancer. She is the first to establish p53 as a transcriptional activator of other genes. Transcription is the first step in a gene’s expression of its protein. She also showed that common p53 mutants fail to launch transcription, and discovered other proteins, Mdm2 and Mdm4, which play critical roles in inhibiting p53 activity in development and cancer.
MD Anderson is currently home to six National Academy of Science members.