Joseph Schlessinger
Encyclopedia
Joseph "Josip" Schlessinger (born March 26, 1945) is a Croatian
-born Israeli
biochemist
and biophysician. He is chair of the Pharmacology
Department at Yale University
School of Medicine in New Haven
, Connecticut
, as well as the founding director of the school's new Cancer Biology Institute. His area of research is signaling through tyrosine
phosphorylation
, which is important in many areas of cellular regulation, especially growth control and cancer
. Schlessinger's work has led to an understanding of the mechanism of transmembrane signaling by receptor tyrosine kinase
s and how the resulting signals control cell growth and differentiation.
, his first wife and child were deported to Auschwitz. Schlessinger mother Rivka was from Bugojno
, her first husband was killed by Ustashe
. Imre and Rivka Schlessinger met in a labor camp
in 1943 on the island Rab
. There they joined a group of Jews who joined the Yugoslav Partisans. When Schlessinger was born on March 26, 1945 he was wrapped in a British military
parachute. He was named for his grandfather. After World War II
the family moved to Osijek
, where another son, Darko David, was born. Imre Schlessinger once joked at the expense of Josip Broz Tito
and was sentenced to several months in jail. The family moved to Israel
in 1948.
Schlessinger served his compulsory military service with the Golani
infantry
brigade and was commissioned an officer. As part of his reserve duty he participated in the Six-Day War
and the Yom Kippur War
.
Schlessinger received his B.Sc.
degree in Chemistry
and Physics
in 1968 (magna cum laude), and an M.Sc.
degree in chemistry (also magna cum laude) in 1970 from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
. He obtained his Ph.D.
degree in biophysics
from the Weizmann Institute of Science
in 1974. From 1974–1976, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Departments of Chemistry and Applied Physics at Cornell University
in Ithaca, New York
, working with Elliot Elson and Watt W. Webb
. From 1977–1978, he was a visiting fellow in the immunology branch of the National Cancer Institute
.
He is married to Irit Lax, an associate professor in the Pharmacology Department at Yale. They each have two children from a previous marriage.
In a 2009 interview with a Croatian daily newspaper Jutarnji list
, he said, "Basically I am atheist. I grew up Jewish and I truly belong to the Jewish culture, but I'm not a follower of any world religion. Religion does not interest me at all."
from 1985-1991. In addition, he was a Research Director for Rorer Biotechnology in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
, from 1985-1990. In 1990, he was appointed as the Milton and Helen Kimmelman Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology
at the New York University School of Medicine
. He served as Director of the Skirball Institute for Biomolecular Medicine at NYU Medical Center from 1998–2001.
He has been the William H. Prusoff Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology
at Yale School of Medicine
since 2001. He was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences
in 2000, to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
in 2001, and to the Institute of Medicine
in 2005. He is a member of the editorial boards of several journals, including Cell
, Molecular Cell
, the Journal of Cell Biology
, and the Science
magazine Science Signaling.
(1995), the Antoine Lacassagne Prize (1995), the Taylor Prize (2000), and the Dan David Prize
(2006). In 2002, he was granted an honorary doctorate
from the University of Haifa
. In addition he has given named lectures at many institutions, including the Harvey Society (in the 1993-1994 Harvey Lectures series) and the 2006 Keith R. Porter Lecture of the American Society for Cell Biology. In 2009, he was elected as a Member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
.
In September 2003, The Guardian
listed him as number 14 in the "Giants of Science."
, Schlessinger has authored over 450 scientific original and review articles in the areas of pharmacology, molecular biology, biochemistry, and structural biology, mostly on tyrosine kinase
signaling. Tyrosine kinase signaling plays a critical role in the control of many cellular processes including cell proliferation
, differentiation, metabolism
, as well as cell survival and migration
. Tyrosine kinases play a particularly important role in cancer, and several agents that block their activity are now used as anti-cancer drugs, such as Imatinib
or Gleevec. Among his contributions are the findings that cell surface receptors with tyrosine kinase activity signal across membrane by forming dimers when they bind to their growth factor activators. He discovered this in studies of the epidermal growth factor receptor
(EGFR). He was also instrumental in understanding how the SH2 domain
controls tyrosine kinase signaling by binding to phosphorylated tyrosines in activated receptors. One of the seminal findings in this work was his laboratory's cloning of Grb2
and other Adaptor proteins. Another is the lab's cloning of FRS2
, which is critical for signaling by the Fibroblast growth factor receptor
. In 2001, he was ranked by the ISI Highly Cited as one of the world's top 30 most cited scientists (across all fields) in the 1990s. According to ISI, his papers have been cited a total of 76,699 times.
lawsuit was initiated against Yale University by Schlessinger's former secretary, Mary Beth Garceau. Garceau alleged numerous episodes of harassment during her employment at Yale and claimed that Yale University failed to act upon her frequent complaints, thus causing Garceau to resign. The case was settled out of court in mid-2007 and the terms of the settlement were not publicly disclosed.
to develop ATP-like molecules that would compete with ATP for binding to the catalytic site of receptor tyrosine kinases in cancer treatment. SUGEN later became part of Pfizer
. One of the pipeline products (SU11248) was ultimately developed by Pfizer as Sutent (Sunitinib
), approved by the FDA for treating gastrointestinal stromal tumors and renal cell carcinoma.
with Sung-Hou Kim (University of California, Berkeley
). Plexxikon, founded in 2001, uses a pioneering structural biology-based platform for drug discovery.
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
-born Israeli
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
biochemist
Biochemist
Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. Typical biochemists study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. The prefix of "bio" in "biochemist" can be understood as a fusion of "biological chemist."-Role:...
and biophysician. He is chair of the Pharmacology
Pharmacology
Pharmacology is the branch of medicine and biology concerned with the study of drug action. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical function...
Department at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
School of Medicine in New Haven
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, as well as the founding director of the school's new Cancer Biology Institute. His area of research is signaling through tyrosine
Tyrosine
Tyrosine or 4-hydroxyphenylalanine, is one of the 22 amino acids that are used by cells to synthesize proteins. Its codons are UAC and UAU. It is a non-essential amino acid with a polar side group...
phosphorylation
Phosphorylation
Phosphorylation is the addition of a phosphate group to a protein or other organic molecule. Phosphorylation activates or deactivates many protein enzymes....
, which is important in many areas of cellular regulation, especially growth control and cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
. Schlessinger's work has led to an understanding of the mechanism of transmembrane signaling by receptor tyrosine kinase
Tyrosine kinase
A tyrosine kinase is an enzyme that can transfer a phosphate group from ATP to a protein in a cell. It functions as an "on" or "off" switch in many cellular functions....
s and how the resulting signals control cell growth and differentiation.
Biography
Schlessinger was born in the village of Topusko, Croatia, to Jewish parents. His father Imre was from SlatinaSlatina
Slatina refers to a number of geographical objects in Europe:In Albania:* another name for Slatine and for SllatinaIn Antarctica* Slatina Peak...
, his first wife and child were deported to Auschwitz. Schlessinger mother Rivka was from Bugojno
Bugojno
Bugojno is a town and municipality of the same name in central Bosnia and Herzegovina on the river Vrbas. It is located in the Central Bosnia Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity. The town is to the northwest from Sarajevo, with an estimated population of 50,000 .To the west...
, her first husband was killed by Ustashe
Ustaše
The Ustaša - Croatian Revolutionary Movement was a Croatian fascist anti-Yugoslav separatist movement. The ideology of the movement was a blend of fascism, Nazism, and Croatian nationalism. The Ustaše supported the creation of a Greater Croatia that would span to the River Drina and to the border...
. Imre and Rivka Schlessinger met in a labor camp
Labor camp
A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons...
in 1943 on the island Rab
Rab
Rab is an island in Croatia and a town of the same name located just off the northern Croatian coast in the Adriatic Sea.The island is long, has an area of and 9,480 inhabitants . The highest peak is Kamenjak at 408 meters...
. There they joined a group of Jews who joined the Yugoslav Partisans. When Schlessinger was born on March 26, 1945 he was wrapped in a British military
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
parachute. He was named for his grandfather. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the family moved to Osijek
Osijek
Osijek is the fourth largest city in Croatia with a population of 83,496 in 2011. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja county...
, where another son, Darko David, was born. Imre Schlessinger once joked at the expense of Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
and was sentenced to several months in jail. The family moved to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
in 1948.
Schlessinger served his compulsory military service with the Golani
Golani
Golani may refer to:*Golani Brigade, an Israeli infantry brigade*Golani Family, an Indian royal family*Golani Junction, a location in Israel*Rivka Golani , an Israeli viola player* Golani, anti-communist protestors, from the Romanian Golaniad...
infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
brigade and was commissioned an officer. As part of his reserve duty he participated in the Six-Day War
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
and the Yom Kippur War
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
.
Schlessinger received his B.Sc.
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree in Chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
and Physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
in 1968 (magna cum laude), and an M.Sc.
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
degree in chemistry (also magna cum laude) in 1970 from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
. He obtained his Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
degree in biophysics
Biophysics
Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that uses the methods of physical science to study biological systems. Studies included under the branches of biophysics span all levels of biological organization, from the molecular scale to whole organisms and ecosystems...
from the Weizmann Institute of Science
Weizmann Institute of Science
The Weizmann Institute of Science , known as Machon Weizmann, is a university and research institute in Rehovot, Israel. It differs from other Israeli universities in that it offers only graduate and post-graduate studies in the sciences....
in 1974. From 1974–1976, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Departments of Chemistry and Applied Physics at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
in Ithaca, New York
Ithaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
, working with Elliot Elson and Watt W. Webb
Watt W. Webb
Watt W. Webb is known for his co-invention of Multiphoton microscopy in 1990.- Biography :Professor Watt W...
. From 1977–1978, he was a visiting fellow in the immunology branch of the National Cancer Institute
National Cancer Institute
The National Cancer Institute is part of the National Institutes of Health , which is one of 11 agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NCI coordinates the U.S...
.
He is married to Irit Lax, an associate professor in the Pharmacology Department at Yale. They each have two children from a previous marriage.
In a 2009 interview with a Croatian daily newspaper Jutarnji list
Jutarnji list
Jutarnji list is a daily newspaper in Croatia with a circulation of about 115,000 copies.It was launched in April 1998, becoming the first successful Croatian daily newspaper to appear since the 1950s. It was named after a Zagreb daily that used to circulate before WW2...
, he said, "Basically I am atheist. I grew up Jewish and I truly belong to the Jewish culture, but I'm not a follower of any world religion. Religion does not interest me at all."
Academic career
Schlessinger was a member of the faculty of the Weizmann Institute from 1978–1991 and was the Ruth and Leonard Simon Professor of Cancer Research in the Department of ImmunologyImmunology
Immunology is a broad branch of biomedical science that covers the study of all aspects of the immune system in all organisms. It deals with the physiological functioning of the immune system in states of both health and diseases; malfunctions of the immune system in immunological disorders ; the...
from 1985-1991. In addition, he was a Research Director for Rorer Biotechnology in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
King of Prussia is a census-designated place in Upper Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 19,936. The community took its name in the 18th century from a local tavern named the King of Prussia Inn, which was named after...
, from 1985-1990. In 1990, he was appointed as the Milton and Helen Kimmelman Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology
Pharmacology
Pharmacology is the branch of medicine and biology concerned with the study of drug action. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical function...
at the New York University School of Medicine
New York University School of Medicine
The New York University School of Medicine is one of the graduate schools of New York University. Founded in 1841 as the University Medical College, the NYU School of Medicine is one of the foremost medical schools in the United States....
. He served as Director of the Skirball Institute for Biomolecular Medicine at NYU Medical Center from 1998–2001.
He has been the William H. Prusoff Professor and Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology
Pharmacology
Pharmacology is the branch of medicine and biology concerned with the study of drug action. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical function...
at Yale School of Medicine
Yale School of Medicine
The Yale School of Medicine at Yale University is a private medical school located in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. It was founded in 1810 as The Medical Institution of Yale College, and formally opened its doors in 1813....
since 2001. He was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
in 2000, to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
in 2001, and to the Institute of Medicine
Institute of Medicine
The Institute of Medicine is a not-for-profit, non-governmental American organization founded in 1970, under the congressional charter of the National Academy of Sciences...
in 2005. He is a member of the editorial boards of several journals, including Cell
Cell (journal)
Cell is a peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing research papers across a broad range of disciplines within the life sciences. Areas covered include molecular biology, cell biology, systems biology, stem cells, developmental biology, genetics and genomics, proteomics, cancer research,...
, Molecular Cell
Molecular Cell
Molecular Cell publishes research articles and review material that focus on analyzes at the molecular level, with an emphasis on new mechanistic insights. Launched in 1997, Molecular Cell publishes 24 issues a year. The impact factor of Molecular Cell in 2009 is 14.608....
, the Journal of Cell Biology
Journal of Cell Biology
The Journal of Cell Biology is an international, peer-reviewed journal owned by The Rockefeller University and published by The Rockefeller University Press.- History :...
, and the Science
Science (journal)
Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
magazine Science Signaling.
Awards and recognition
Schlessinger is the recipient of numerous prizes, including the Michael Landau Prize (1973), the Sara Leady Prize (1980), the Hestrin Prize (1983), the Levinson Prize (1984), a Ciba-Drew AwardCiba-Drew Award
The Ciba-Drew Award for Biomedical Research is an award jointly presented by Ciba-Geigy and Drew University.-Winners:*1995: Joseph Schlessinger and Arnold J. Levine*1992: Stuart L. Schreiber*1990: Roger David Kornberg*1985: Jean-Pierre Changeux...
(1995), the Antoine Lacassagne Prize (1995), the Taylor Prize (2000), and the Dan David Prize
Dan David Prize
The Dan David Prize annually awards 3 prizes of $1 million each awarded by the Dan David Foundation and Tel Aviv University to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution in the fields of science, technology, culture or social welfare. There are three prize categories - past, present and...
(2006). In 2002, he was granted an honorary doctorate
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
from the University of Haifa
University of Haifa
The University of Haifa is a university in Haifa, Israel.The University of Haifa was founded in 1963 by Haifa mayor Abba Hushi, to operate under the academic auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
. In addition he has given named lectures at many institutions, including the Harvey Society (in the 1993-1994 Harvey Lectures series) and the 2006 Keith R. Porter Lecture of the American Society for Cell Biology. In 2009, he was elected as a Member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the national academy of Croatia. It was founded in 1866 as the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts , and was known by that name for most of its existence.- History :...
.
In September 2003, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
listed him as number 14 in the "Giants of Science."
Publications and research
According to PubMedPubMed
PubMed is a free database accessing primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health maintains the database as part of the Entrez information retrieval system...
, Schlessinger has authored over 450 scientific original and review articles in the areas of pharmacology, molecular biology, biochemistry, and structural biology, mostly on tyrosine kinase
Tyrosine kinase
A tyrosine kinase is an enzyme that can transfer a phosphate group from ATP to a protein in a cell. It functions as an "on" or "off" switch in many cellular functions....
signaling. Tyrosine kinase signaling plays a critical role in the control of many cellular processes including cell proliferation
Cell growth
The term cell growth is used in the contexts of cell development and cell division . When used in the context of cell division, it refers to growth of cell populations, where one cell grows and divides to produce two "daughter cells"...
, differentiation, metabolism
Metabolism
Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of living organisms to sustain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories...
, as well as cell survival and migration
Cell migration
Cell migration is a central process in the development and maintenance of multicellular organisms. Tissue formation during embryonic development, wound healing and immune responses all require the orchestrated movement of cells in particular directions to specific locations...
. Tyrosine kinases play a particularly important role in cancer, and several agents that block their activity are now used as anti-cancer drugs, such as Imatinib
Imatinib
Imatinib is a drug used to treat certain types of cancer. It is currently marketed by Novartis as Gleevec or Glivec as its mesylate salt, imatinib mesilate . It is used in treating chronic myelogenous leukemia , gastrointestinal stromal tumors and some other diseases...
or Gleevec. Among his contributions are the findings that cell surface receptors with tyrosine kinase activity signal across membrane by forming dimers when they bind to their growth factor activators. He discovered this in studies of the epidermal growth factor receptor
Epidermal growth factor receptor
The epidermal growth factor receptor is the cell-surface receptor for members of the epidermal growth factor family of extracellular protein ligands...
(EGFR). He was also instrumental in understanding how the SH2 domain
SH2 domain
The SH2 domain is a structurally conserved protein domain contained within the Src oncoprotein and in many other intracellular signal-transducing proteins...
controls tyrosine kinase signaling by binding to phosphorylated tyrosines in activated receptors. One of the seminal findings in this work was his laboratory's cloning of Grb2
Grb2
Growth factor receptor-bound protein 2 also known as Grb2 is an adaptor protein involved in signal transduction/cell communication. In humans, the GRB2 protein is encoded by the GRB2 gene....
and other Adaptor proteins. Another is the lab's cloning of FRS2
FRS2
Fibroblast growth factor receptor substrate 2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the FRS2 gene.-Interactions:FRS2 has been shown to interact with PRKCI, Grb2, PTPN11, Fibroblast growth factor receptor 1, TrkA, Cbl gene and SOS1....
, which is critical for signaling by the Fibroblast growth factor receptor
Fibroblast growth factor receptor
The fibroblast growth factor receptors are, as their name implies, receptors that bind to members of the fibroblast growth factor family of proteins. Some of these receptors are involved in pathological conditions...
. In 2001, he was ranked by the ISI Highly Cited as one of the world's top 30 most cited scientists (across all fields) in the 1990s. According to ISI, his papers have been cited a total of 76,699 times.
Controversy
In 2006, a sexual harassmentSexual harassment
Sexual harassment, is intimidation, bullying or coercion of a sexual nature, or the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. In some contexts or circumstances, sexual harassment is illegal. It includes a range of behavior from seemingly mild transgressions and...
lawsuit was initiated against Yale University by Schlessinger's former secretary, Mary Beth Garceau. Garceau alleged numerous episodes of harassment during her employment at Yale and claimed that Yale University failed to act upon her frequent complaints, thus causing Garceau to resign. The case was settled out of court in mid-2007 and the terms of the settlement were not publicly disclosed.
SUGEN
In 1991, Schlessinger co-founded (with Axel Ullrich and Steven Evans-Freke) the biotechnology company SUGENSUGEN
SUGEN was a drug discovery company focused on development of protein kinase inhibitors. It was founded in 1991, and shut down in 2003, after pioneering protein kinases as therapeutic targets and developing the successful cancer therapy sunitinib .-Early history and focus:Sugen was founded in 1991...
to develop ATP-like molecules that would compete with ATP for binding to the catalytic site of receptor tyrosine kinases in cancer treatment. SUGEN later became part of Pfizer
Pfizer
Pfizer, Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation. The company is based in New York City, New York with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut, United States...
. One of the pipeline products (SU11248) was ultimately developed by Pfizer as Sutent (Sunitinib
Sunitinib
Sunitinib is an oral, small-molecule, multi-targeted receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor that was approved by the FDA for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma and imatinib-resistant gastrointestinal stromal tumor on January 26, 2006...
), approved by the FDA for treating gastrointestinal stromal tumors and renal cell carcinoma.
Plexxikon
Following his involvement in SUGEN, Schlessinger co-founded PlexxikonPlexxikon
Plexxikon is a drug discovery company based in Berkeley, California that was co-founded in 2001 by Joseph Schlessinger of Yale University with Sung-Hou Kim of the University of California, Berkeley....
with Sung-Hou Kim (University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
). Plexxikon, founded in 2001, uses a pioneering structural biology-based platform for drug discovery.