Zena_Werb

Zena Werb
Zena Werb (24 March 1945 – 16 June 2020) was a

professor and the Vice Chair of Anatomy at the Zena Werb
University of California, San Francisco. She was also Born March 24, 1945
the co-leader of the Cancer, Immunity, and KZ Bergen-Belsen
Microenvironment Program at the Hellen Diller Died 16 June 2020 (aged 75)
Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and a member San Francisco, California,
of the Executive Committee of the Sabre-Sandler United States
Asthma Basic Research Center at UCSF.[1][2] Her Education University of Toronto
research focused on features of the microenvironment
Rockefeller University
surrounding cells, with particular interest in the
extracellular matrix and the role of its protease Known for Study of the extracellular matrix
enzymes in cell signaling.[3][4] Awards E.B. Wilson Medal, 2007
Scientific career
Fields Cell biology
Early life and education
Institutions University of California, San
Zena Werb was born in Germany in 1945 in the Francisco
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp (KZ Bergen- Thesis Dynamics of macrophage
Belsen), a few weeks before the camp was liberated. membrane cholesterol (1971)
Both of her parents, who were Polish-Jewish, survived Doctoral Zanvil Cohn
the war, with her father having fled to Italy. Her family advisor
was able to reunite at a refugee camp in Italy in
Website werblab.ucsf.edu (http://werbla
1947;[5] they emigrated to Canada in 1948, where
b.ucsf.edu)
Werb was raised on a farm in Ontario.[6][7] Though her
father was previously a mathematician, he became a
farmer.[5]
Werb received her B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Toronto in 1966, having changed her
major from geophysics after being told there were no accommodations for women at a field site.[6][8] She
received her Ph.D. in Cell Biology from Rockefeller University in 1971, working under the supervision
of Zanvil Cohn on a thesis titled "Dynamics of macrophage membrane cholesterol".[9] After graduation
she worked at the Strangeways Research Laboratory in Cambridge, United Kingdom as a postdoctoral
fellow with John T. Dingle from 1971 to 1973 and as a research associate from 1973 to 1975.[2][7][10]
Academic career
Werb spent a year as a visiting assistant professor at Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire
before moving to the University of California, San Francisco in 1976, where she became a full professor
in 1983.[2][7][10] She served as president of the American Society for Cell Biology in 2004.[11] She spoke
of the value of academic sabbaticals, and in 2007 she spent a sabbatical at the Max Planck Institute
through an Alexander von Humboldt Research Award.[12][13]
Werb wrote and gave interviews on her experiences as a woman in science, describing the environment in
which she trained as sexist and noting that, despite improvements in women's representation in the
sciences since her training, sexism "has gone underground"[6] and low representation of women in top
positions remains a problem.[14][15]
She was a member of the Editorial Board for Developmental Cell.
Awards and honors

FASEB Excellence in Science Award from the Federation of American Societies for
Experimental Biology (1966) [13]
Guggenheim Fellowship (1985-6) [7]
American Association for Cancer Research Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend
Memorial Lectureship (2001) [16]
UCSF Annual Faculty Research Lectureship (2001) [17]
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2003) [13]
E.B. Wilson Medal from the American Society for Cell Biology (2007) [18]
Lifetime Achievement Award from Women in Cell Biology, an ASCB subgroup (2010) [19]
Member of the United States National Academy of Sciences (2010) [13]
UCSF Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award (2015) [20]
Research
Werb's research group studies the effects on cells of the extracellular matrix microenvironment and its
component proteases, particularly matrix metalloproteinases. The group also investigates the role of these
effects on biological processes such as stem cell maturation and neoplasia, for which they use breast
cancer in mice as a model.[3][8] Her work in establishing the active role of the ECM in normal cell
signaling and in cancer progression is widely recognized as highly influential.[7][21]
References
1. "About Cancer, Immunity, and Microenvironment" (http://cancer.ucsf.edu/research/programs/
immunity). University of California, San Francisco. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
2. "Zena Werb, Ph.D." (http://sabre.ucsf.edu/executive/zena_werb.html) University of
California, San Francisco. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
3. "Research" (http://werblab.ucsf.edu/research). Werb Lab. University of California, San
Francisco. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
4. Littlepage, Laurie E.; Ewald, Andrew J.; Alexander, Caroline; Casbon, Amy-Jo; Lu, Pengfei;
Kessenbrock, Kai; Provot, Sylvain; Phillips, Joanna J.; Kouros-Mehr, Hosein; Chan, Matilda;
Welm, Bryan (2020-08-10). "Zena Werb (1945–2020)" (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.devcel.2
020.07.012). Developmental Cell. 54 (3): 299–301. doi:10.1016/j.devcel.2020.07.012 (http
s://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.devcel.2020.07.012). ISSN 1534-5807 (https://search.worldcat.org/i
ssn/1534-5807).
5. Egeblad, Mikala (2021-03-04). "Zena Werb (1945–2020): Matrix Metalloproteinases,
Microenvironments, and Mentoring" (https://doi.org/10.1146%2Fannurev-cancerbio-081320-
114426). Annual Review of Cancer Biology. 5 (1): 1–16. doi:10.1146/annurev-cancerbio-
081320-114426 (https://doi.org/10.1146%2Fannurev-cancerbio-081320-114426).
ISSN 2472-3428 (https://search.worldcat.org/issn/2472-3428).
6. Watt, F. M. (22 February 2004). "Zena Werb" (https://doi.org/10.1242%2Fjcs.01031).
Journal of Cell Science. 117 (6): 803–804. doi:10.1242/jcs.01031 (https://doi.org/10.1242%2
Fjcs.01031). PMID 14963020 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14963020).
7. "ASCB Profiles" (https://web.archive.org/web/20150705091409/http://ascb.org/files/profiles/
Zena_Werb.pdf) (PDF). American Society for Cell Biology. Archived from the original (http://
ascb.org/files/profiles/Zena_Werb.pdf) (PDF) on 5 July 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
8. Kain, K. H. (10 August 2010). "The extracellular matrix and disease: an interview with Zena
Werb". Disease Models & Mechanisms. 3 (9–10): 513–516. doi:10.1242/dmm.006338 (http
s://doi.org/10.1242%2Fdmm.006338). PMID 20699476 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20
699476). S2CID 116090690 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:116090690).
9. As cited in: Werb, Zena; Cohn, Zanvil A. (1971). "Cholesterol metabolism in the
macrophage. I. The regulation of cholesterol exchange" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/a
rticles/PMC2139099). The Journal of Experimental Medicine. 134 (6): 1545–69.
doi:10.1084/jem.134.6.1545 (https://doi.org/10.1084%2Fjem.134.6.1545). PMC 2139099 (ht
tps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2139099). PMID 5126640 (https://pubmed.ncb
i.nlm.nih.gov/5126640).
10. "Zena Werb" (http://werblab.ucsf.edu/users/zenawerb). Werb Lab. University of California,
San Francisco. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
11. "ASCB Presidents" (http://ascb.org/ascb-presidents/). American Society for Cell Biology.
Retrieved 4 July 2015.
12. Hoag, Hannah (16 August 2007). "The seven-year itch" (https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fnj7155-
834a). Nature. 448 (7155): 834–835. doi:10.1038/nj7155-834a (https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fn
j7155-834a).
13. "Zena Werb, Ph.D." (http://cancer.ucsf.edu/people/profiles/werb_zena.3747) UCSF Helen
Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
14. Neugebauer, Karla M. (2006). "Keeping Tabs on the Women: Life Scientists in Europe" (http
s://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1435409). PLOS Biology. 4 (4): e97.
doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0040097 (https://doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.0040097).
PMC 1435409 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1435409). PMID 16602822
(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16602822).
15. Werb, Z. (15 November 2010). "The Joy of a Career in Cell Biology" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.ni
h.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2982121). Molecular Biology of the Cell. 21 (22): 3764–3766.
doi:10.1091/mbc.E10-05-0413 (https://doi.org/10.1091%2Fmbc.E10-05-0413).
PMC 2982121 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2982121). PMID 21079003
(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21079003).
16. "AACR-Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Memorial Lectureship: Past
Recipients" (https://www.aacr.org/professionals/research/scientific-achievement-awards-and
-lecturships/scientific-award-recipients/aacr-wicr-charlotte-friend-lectureship-recipients/).
American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). Retrieved 2020-02-09.
17. "Faculty Research Lecture in Basic Science 44th | UCSF Academic Senate" (https://senate.
ucsf.edu/faculty-research-lecture/basic-science-44th). senate.ucsf.edu. Retrieved
2020-02-09.
18. "E.B. Wilson Medal" (https://www.ascb.org/award/e-b-wilson-medal/). ASCB. Retrieved
2020-02-09.
19. "WICB Awards" (https://web.archive.org/web/20160304040446/http://ar.ascb.org/index.php?
option=com_content&view=article&id=624&Itemid=452). American Society for Cell Biology.
Archived from the original (http://ar.ascb.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&i
d=624&Itemid=452) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
20. "Zena Werb receives UCSF 2015 Mentoring Award" (https://web.archive.org/web/20150705
184114/http://anatomy.ucsf.edu/news/2015/04/10/zena.html). Department of Anatomy.
University of California, San Francisco. 10 April 2015. Archived from the original (http://anato
my.ucsf.edu/news/2015/04/10/zena.html) on 5 July 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
21. Egeblad, M; Werb, Z (March 2002). "New functions for the matrix metalloproteinases in
cancer progression". Nature Reviews. Cancer. 2 (3): 161–74. doi:10.1038/nrc745 (https://do
i.org/10.1038%2Fnrc745). PMID 11990853 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11990853).
S2CID 7990149 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:7990149).
External links
Papers (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Werb+Z%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true
&cauthor_uid=26155427) on PubMed
Fiona M. Watt, "Zena Werb", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences
(2021) (http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/werb-zen
a.pdf)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zena_Werb&oldid=1183457598"

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Zena Werb

Zena Werb (24 March 1945 – 16 June 2020) was a

She was a member of the Editorial Board for Developmental Cell.

Awards and honors

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zena_Werb&oldid=1183457598"

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