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DALLAS – Sept. 11, 2025 – Steven McKnight, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry at UT Southwestern Medical Center, has been awarded the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award for discoveries into the function of proteins of low sequence complexity and their affect on the dynamics of cell morphology and organic regulation.
Often known as “America’s Nobels,” the Lasker Awards acknowledge vital advances within the understanding, analysis, remedy, remedy, and prevention of human illness and are considered the nation’s preeminent biomedical analysis prize. Since 1945, the Lasker Foundation has awarded greater than 400 prizes.
Steven McKnight, Ph.D.
Dr. McKnight’s recognition marks the second consecutive 12 months and fifth time {that a} UT Southwestern scientist has earned a Lasker Award. With this honor, he joins Zhijian “James” Chen, Ph.D. (2024), Professor of Molecular Biology and Director of the Center for Inflammation Research, and Nobel Laureates Alfred Gilman, M.D., Ph.D. (1989), Michael Brown, M.D. (1985), and Joseph Goldstein, M.D. (1985), as UT Southwestern recipients.
Dr. McKnight’s research – centered on proteins of low sequence complexity – have revealed how these disordered proteins can reversibly self-associate to regulate innumerable types of dynamic mobile group and combination in a way that results in neurologic and neurodegenerative illness.
“His work over the past three decades has exemplified our institution’s commitment to curiosity-driven research by advancing our understanding of cellular and molecular mechanisms, which ultimately inform new approaches to disease treatment,” stated Daniel Ok. Podolsky, M.D., President of UT Southwestern. “We are thrilled to see the importance of his fundamental discoveries into the role of low complexity proteins in basic cellular functions recognized by this year’s Lasker Basic Medical Research Award.”
Prior to the work that has garnered the Lasker Award, Dr. McKnight’s early research of gene regulation led to the identification of the leucine zipper, a structural motif in transcription elements – proteins that regulate gene expression. This discovery helped make clear how the expression of mobile genes is turned on and off.
Teaming up with David Russell, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus and former Vice Provost and Dean of Basic Research, Dr. McKnight additionally found the HIF-2α transcription issue and recognized its function in adapting cells and tissues to circumstances of oxygen hunger. Working in collaboration with Richard Bruick, Ph.D., and artificial chemists within the Biochemistry Department at UT Southwestern, Dr. McKnight found drug-like compounds able to inhibiting the HIF-2α protein. In 2008, UT Southwestern licensed these chemical compounds to Peloton Therapeutics Inc., a Dallas-based biotechnology firm based by Dr. McKnight. Following in depth optimization and subsequent medical trials, the chemical inhibitor of HIF-2α, designated belzutifan, was permitted in 2021 by the Food and Drug Administration as a remedy for kidney most cancers.
“I want to thank the Lasker Foundation for this great honor,” stated Dr. McKnight, who holds the Distinguished Chair in Basic Biomedical Research at UT Southwestern. “I am also grateful to the colleagues and trainees who’ve worked with me over the years and to the leadership of UT Southwestern, who have created the environment for scientists to probe challenging and important questions.”
A former Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Dr. McKnight is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Other honors embrace the Robert A. Welch Award in Chemistry (2020), the Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences (2014), the National Institutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award (2004), the Monsanto Award from the National Academy of Sciences (1991), and the Eli Lilly Award from the American Society for Microbiology (1989).
Low complexity domains: Structures and features
(Credit: Lasker Foundation)
Dr. McKnight earned a bachelor’s diploma in biology from the University of Texas at Austin, adopted by a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Virginia. He did postdoctoral analysis on the Carnegie Institution of Washington earlier than becoming a member of UT Southwestern in 1995. He is a member of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Dr. McKnight shares the 2025 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award with Dirk Görlich, Ph.D., a German biochemist who’s director of the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences. Dr. Görlich can also be being honored for his work on proteins of low sequence complexity.
The Lasker Awards will likely be introduced in New York on Sept. 19.
Dr. Brown is a Regental Professor and holds the W.A. (Monty) Moncrief Distinguished Chair in Cholesterol and Arteriosclerosis Research and the Paul J. Thomas Chair in Medicine.
Dr. Chen holds the George L. MacGregor Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Science.
Dr. Goldstein is a Regental Professor and holds the Julie and Louis A. Beecherl, Jr. Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Research and the Paul J. Thomas Chair in Medicine.
Dr. Podolsky holds the Philip O’Bryan Montgomery, Jr., M.D. Distinguished Presidential Chair in Academic Administration and the Charles Cameron Sprague Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Science.
About UT Southwestern Medical Center
UT Southwestern, one of many nation’s premier educational medical facilities, integrates pioneering biomedical analysis with distinctive medical care and schooling. The establishment’s school members have obtained six Nobel Prizes and embrace 24 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 23 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 13 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The full-time school of greater than 3,200 is chargeable for groundbreaking medical advances and is dedicated to translating science-driven analysis rapidly to new medical therapies. UT Southwestern physicians present care in additional than 80 specialties to greater than 140,000 hospitalized sufferers, greater than 360,000 emergency room instances, and oversee almost 5.1 million outpatient visits a 12 months.
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