MD Anderson genetics expert elected to national academy of sciences

Guillermina Lozano, Ph.D., chair of Genetics, is a pioneer in describing the pathway for p53, 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. 

In recognition of these advances in understanding cancer, she now is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Lozano is one of 84 new members and 21 foreign associates recently elected for their “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.”

“I am humbled and honored to be elected to the academy,” says Lozano. “Importantly, I am proud that it recognizes what has been, and continues to be, a group effort by my team and me, and my many collaborators at MD Anderson in our shared mission to end cancer.”

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.

“This is one of the highest honors that can be bestowed upon a scientist,” says Marshall Hicks, M.D., president ad interim of MD Anderson. “Dr. Lozano’s well-deserved election to the academy speaks to her significant contributions to our understanding of p53 and her continued advances in cancer science.”

MD Anderson is currently home to six National Academy of Science members. 

Read about the latest progress in Making Cancer History® in the Cancer Frontline blog.