Daniel J. Drucker, Jeffrey M. Friedman, Joel F. Habener, Jens Juul Holst and Svetlana Mojsov 2024 Princess of Asturias Award for Technical & Scientific Research

Biography

In recent years, a great deal of progress has been made in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, with the appearance of drugs that use semaglutide as an active ingredient, a peptide similar to a hormone, glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), which plays a counterbalancing role for insulin in blood sugar balance. When the sugar level drops, glucagon induces the liver to release glucose, and when it rises, more insulin is generated, which is responsible for reducing the excess. Furthermore, semaglutide produces a notable reduction in appetite, which has significantly contributed to the success of Ozempic, one of the drugs produced with this active ingredient. Science magazine (Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities 2007) designated these anti-obesity drugs as the greatest scientific advance of 2023. Drucker, Habener, Holst and Mojsov share the recognition of having initiated and developed this research since the 1970s. At their different laboratories, they have studied the hormones that intervene in the process and regulate digestive metabolism, such as somatostatin, which inhibits the production of glucagon and insulin, and variants of glucagon, called GLP-1 and GLP-2, and verified that this homeostasis system could be an effective therapeutic target against type-2 diabetes. Semaglutide (like some other similar molecules) works as an agonist of the GLP-1 receptor, thereby inhibiting the production of this hormone, reducing blood sugar levels and improving the growth of pancreatic beta (β)-cells, responsible for the production and release of insulin. In addition, it has been proven to have protective effects against vascular accidents in adults with obesity, an indication recently authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). For his part, Friedman discovered another hormone in 1994, leptin, which is generated in fat cells, or adipocytes, and acts on the brain region that controls appetite. It is a balanced system: the more fat there is, the more leptin is produced, which decreases appetite, thus reducing the body’s fat and hence the production of leptin. In the case of obese people, this mechanism is unbalanced. He has also studied the genetic predisposition to obesity.

Daniel J. Drucker

Daniel J. Drucker (Montreal, Canada, 26th June 1956) graduated in Medicine from the University of Toronto in 1980. He did his medical internship between 1980 and 1981 at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and his residency at the University of Toronto, between 1980 and 1984. In 1984, he obtained a scholarship to work at Massachusetts General Hospital. He joined Toronto General Hospital in 1987, where he worked until 2021. Since 2006, he has been a senior researcher at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital. He combines his research with lecturing at the University of Toronto, where he was appointed assistant professor in 1987, obtaining a full professorship in 1996. He is the author of some 430 scientific papers and 33 patents. According to Google Scholar, he has been cited 89 195 times and has an h-index of 148. Drucker was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada and, in 2015 was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London (2011 Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities). He is also a member of the National Academies of Sciences and Medicine of the United States, among other institutions. The numerous recognitions he has been awarded include the Banting Medal for Scientific Achievement from the American Diabetes Association (2014); the Rolf Luft Award from the Karolinska Institute (Sweden, 2017); appointment as Keith Harrison Memorial Lecturer by the Australian Endocrine Society (Australia, 2019); the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize, shared with Jens Juul Holst and Joel F. Habener (United States, 2020); the Gairdner International Award from the Gairdner Foundation (Canada, 2021); the Wolf Prize in Medicine (Israel, 2023); and the VinFuture Prize for Innovators with Outstanding Achievements in Emerging Fields from the VinFuture Foundation (Vietnam, 2023). Together with Joel F. Habener, Svetlana Mojsov and Jens Juul Holst, he has been included on TIME magazine’s TIME100 HEALTH list of the most influential people in health of 2024.

Lecture at 2021 Gairdner Science Week

Jeffrey M. Friedman

Jeffrey M. Friedman (Orlando, USA, 20th July 1954) graduated in Medicine in 1977 from Albany Medical College, where he continued as a medical resident until 1980. He was a postgraduate fellow at the Cornell University School of Medicine and was awarded his PhD in 1986 from Rockefeller University. His professional career has been linked to the Howard Hughes Institute of this university, first as an assistant investigator, then as an associate investigator and, since 1988, as holder of the Marilyn M. Simpson professorship. According to Scopus, he has published 238 scientific articles, has been cited 59 201 times and has an h-index of 90. He is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Among many other distinctions, he has received the Danone International Prize for Nutrition (Spain, 2007); the Shaw Prize for Life Sciences and Medicine (Hong Kong, China, 2009), the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (United States, 2010) and the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award for Biomedicine (Spain, 2012), all three jointly with Douglas Coleman; the King Faisal International Prize in Medicine (Saudi Arabia, 2013); the Wolf Prize in Medicine (Israel, 2019); and the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (United States, 2020).

Jeffrey Friedman discusses research on leptin and obesity

Joel F. Haberner

Joel F. Habener (USA, 29th June 1937) graduated with a BS degree from the University of Redlands in 1960 and an MD degree from the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1965. He completed a stay as resident intern at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (1965-67) and Massachusetts General Hospital. Since 1973, he has combined research, lecturing and clinical activity as Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the Laboratory of Molecular Endocrinology at Massachusetts General Hospital. He was named Professor Emeritus in 2006 and is still active. He is the author of more than 450 scientific papers and, according to Scopus, has been cited 38 332 times and has an h-index of 103. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States and the American Society for Clinical Investigation. Among other distinctions, he has received the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize, shared with Jens Juul Holst and Daniel J. Drucker (United States, 2020); the Gairdner International Award from the Gairdner Foundation (Canada, 2021); and the VinFuture Prize for Innovators with Outstanding Achievements in Emerging Fields from the VinFuture Foundation (Vietnam, 2023). Along with Daniel J. Drucker, Svetlana Mojsov and Jens Juul Holst, he has been included on TIME magazine’s TIME100 HEALTH list of the most influential people in health of 2024.

Lecture at 2021 Gairdner Science Week

Jens Juul Holst

Jens Juul Holst (Copenhagen, Denmark, 1st August 1945) graduated in 1970 and received his PhD in Medical Sciences from the University of Copenhagen in 1978. He combined his studies with clinical practices and research at Bispebjerg Hospital and later as a lecturer and scientist in the Department of Medical Physiology at the University of Copenhagen, from 1977 to the present day. In 2010, he was appointed scientific director of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, based at the University of Copenhagen. He is co-founder of two companies, Antag Therapeutics and Bainan Biotech. He has published more than two thousand articles in scientific journals and is co-author of 10 patents. According to Google Scholar, he has been cited 177 054 times and has an h-index of 207. Holst is a member of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (2023), the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, and the Danish Academy of Natural Sciences, among other institutions. Noteworthy among the awards he has recently received are the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize, shared with Daniel J. Drucker and Joel F. Habener, (United States, 2020); the Gairdner International Award from the Gairdner Foundation (Canada, 2021); the Banting Medal for Scientific Achievement from the American Diabetes Association (2021); the Novo Nordisk Foundation Lecture Prize from the Novo Nordisk Foundation (Denmark, 2023); and the VinFuture Prize for Innovators with Outstanding Achievements in Emerging Fields from the VinFuture Foundation (Vietnam, 2023). Together with Joel F. Habener, Daniel J. Drucker and Svetlana Mojsov, he has been included on TIME magazine’s TIME100 HEALTH list of the most influential people in health of 2024.

"The fascinating world of incretin physiology"

Svetlana Mojsov

Svetlana Mojsov (Skopje, North Macedonia, 1947) earned a Physical Chemistry degree from Belgrade University and subsequently embarked on PhD studies at The Rockefeller University (USA) in 1972. There she worked with 1984 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Robert Merrifield, specializing in the synthesis of peptides. She then moved to Massachusetts General Hospital, where she identified the GLP-1 peptide, synthesized it and studied its function, in addition to developing antibodies against some of its sequences. She returned to The Rockefeller University in the 1990s. Despite her role in the discovery and study of GLP-1, her name was not acknowledged until she initiated a lawsuit demanding that articles that appeared in The New York Times, Nature and Cell be corrected. Science magazine published an extensive article in September 2023 explaining and acknowledging her contribution. According to Scopus, she has published 41 scientific papers, has been cited 5032 times and has an h-index of 28. She has received the VinFuture Prize for Innovators with Outstanding Achievements in Emerging Fields from the VinFuture Foundation (Vietnam, 2023) and the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize from The Rockefeller University (USA, 2024). Along with Joel F. Habener, Daniel J. Drucker and Jens Juul Holst, she has been included on TIME magazine’s TIME100 HEALTH list of the most influential people in health of 2024.

Interview with VinFuture Prize

Minutes of the jury

At its meeting in Oviedo, the Jury for the 2024 Princess of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research, made up of Jesús del Álamo, Alberto Aparici Benages, Juan Luis Arsuaga Ferreras, Juan Ignacio Cirac Sasturáin, Avelino Corma Canós, Elena García Armada, Bernardo Hernández González, Jerónimo López Martínez, Amador Menéndez Velázquez, Ginés Morata Pérez, Peregrina Quintela Estévez, Inés Rodríguez Hidalgo, María Teresa Telleria Jorge, María Paz Zorzano Mier, chaired by Pedro Miguel Echenique Landiríbar and with Cristina Garmendia Mendizábal acting as secretary, has unanimously agreed to confer the Princess of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research on researchers Daniel J. Drucker, Jeffrey M. Friedman, Joel F. Habener, Jens Juul Holst and Svetlana Mojsov.

Research by the award-winning scientists has laid the endocrine foundations of diabetes and obesity, significant pathologies that constitute a global public health problem with no effective treatment to date.

Jeffrey M. Friedman has been a pioneer in establishing the genetic basis of the hormone that regulates appetite. Daniel J. Drucker, Joel F. Habener, Jens Juul Holst and Svetlana Mojsov have studied the effect of certain hormones that regulate insulin secretion and hence glucose levels. This research has led to the development of currently available treatments that are improving the quality of life for hundreds of millions of people worldwide.

These studies are having an enormous clinical and social impact, as for the first time they have enabled the development of effective drugs to combat diabetes and obesity. Moreover, they enable us to mitigate associated pathologies such as cardiovascular diseases.

Oviedo, 5th June 2024

List of Princess of Asturias Award for Technical & Scientific Research Laureates

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