Professor Eugene Goldwasser Ph.D.

Professor Eugene Goldwasser is Professor Emeritus at Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, U.S.A.
Professor Goldwasser plays a major role in the discovery and purification of erythropoietin, a hormone that stimulates the human body to make red blood cells. He and his colleague demonstrated that it is produced in kidney and spent 20 years trying to purify this hormone which is present in very small amount in blood. The breakthrough came after the finding that urine from patients with aplastic animeia had high concentration of this hormone. The purified erythropoietin provides the basis for the cloning of its gene that led to large-scale production using recombinant DNA technology. Erythropoietin is very effective in the treatment of severe anemia in renal diseases, kidney failure and cancers.
Erythropoietin treatment has benefited millions of patients worldwide and is the most commercially successful biotechnology-derived product.
Professor Goldwasser received his Ph.D. from University of Chicago and worked there for most of his career. He served as Chairman of Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology until 1998.