Doctor Gregg Semenza is a member of National Academy of Sciences and endowed Einstein Professorship of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Doctor Gregg Semenza is the founding father of modern hypoxia research. His lab’s main interest is molecular mechanisms of oxygen homeostasis. They have cloned and characterized hypoxia-inducible factor1(HIF-1), a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor. His work contributes a lot to the research field of cardiovascular disease. He published 270 papers which were cited more than 40,000 times.

The topic of the lecture focused on the function of HIF-1 in various pathways. HIF-1 expression increases exponentially as cellular O2 concentration declines. HIF-1 activates transcription of genes that are essential for adaptive responses to hypoxia such as glycolysis, erythropoiesis, angiogenesis, and vascular remodeling. His lab is investigating the role of HIF-1 in the pathophysiology of cancer, cerebral and myocardial ischemia, and chronic lung disease, which are the most common causes of mortality in the U.S. population.

At the end of the lecture, TIAN, Zhigang, dean of the School of Life Sciences, represented BAI,Chunli, president of Chinese Academy of Sciences, to award Gregg Semenza the endowed Einstein Professorship of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The Einstein Professorship Program is a key initiative of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Einstein Professorships will be awarded each year to 20 distinguished international scientists actively working at the frontiers of science and technology, for conducting lecture-tours to China. The goals of the program are to strengthen science and technology links, cooperation and exchange between CAS scientists and respective Einstein Professors and their laboratories, and enhance the training of future generations of scientists in China.