Physico-Medica Lecture: Josef Penninger

Prof Josef Penninger - "RANKL – Bones, Sex, and Mammalian Evolution"

Penninger investigates genetic causes of diseases and has discovered RANKL (Receptor Activator of NF-κB Ligand)—a key regulator of bone remodeling and osteoporosis. Interestingly, RANKL also plays an essential role in the formation of the lactating mammary gland during pregnancy. This provides an unexpected molecular paradigm linking bone morphogenesis and lactation, a prerequisite for the survival of mammalian species. In his lecture, Josef Penninger will focus on this exciting connection.

Abstract

More about Josef Penninger

Josef Penninger began his scientific career at the University of Toronto, Canada. In 2002, he was the founding director of the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology IMBA - a research institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna. In 2018, he returned to Canada as a Canada 150 Chair and took over the Life Sciences Institute at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Since July 2023, he is the Scientific Director of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig.

Josef Penninger has received several competitive research grants and a long list of awards and honors. These include the Ernst-Jung-Prize for Medicine, the Descartes-Prize (the highest European award) and the Wittgenstein-Prize, also known as the "Austrian Nobel Prize". In 2015, he was ranked 11th among the most influential thought leaders in German-speaking countries. He has also been ranked twice in the top 10 of the world's most cited scientists, received an honorary professorship from Qingdao University in China, and was awarded the Austrian Cross of Merit.