Dr. Joseph Goldstein and his colleague Dr. Michael S. Brown have worked together for the last 30 years on the genetics and regulation of cholesterol metabolism. Their discovery of the LDL receptor as the major molecule regulating cholesterol metabolism and its genetic disruption in the human disease familial hypercholesterolemia has been recognized by numerous awards, including the Albert D. Lasker Award in Basic Medical Research (1985), the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1985), and the U.S. National Medal of Science (1988). More recently, Drs. Goldstein and Brown's discovery of the SREBP family of membrane-bound transcription factors and the elucidation of the proteolytic pathway by which the SREBPs become activated to regulate lipid metabolism was recognized by the receipt of the Albany Medical Prize in Biomedical Sciences in 2003. |