UT Southwestern biochemist Steven McKnight, Ph.D., earns prestigious Lasker Award
DALLAS – Sept. 11, 2025 – Steven McKnight, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry at UT Southwestern Medical Center, has been awarded the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award for discoveries into the role of proteins of low sequence complexity and their influence on the dynamics of cell morphology and biological regulation.
Often called “America’s Nobels,” the Lasker Awards recognize significant advances in the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, cure, and prevention of human disease and are regarded as the country’s preeminent biomedical research prize. Since 1945, the Lasker Foundation has awarded more than 400 prizes.
Dr. McKnight’s recognition marks the second consecutive year and fifth time that a UT Southwestern scientist has earned a Lasker Award. With this honor, he joins Zhijian “James” Chen, Ph.D. (2024), Professor of Molecular Biology and Director of the Center for Inflammation Research, and Nobel Laureates Alfred Gilman, M.D., Ph.D. (1989), Michael Brown, M.D. (1985), and Joseph Goldstein, M.D. (1985), as UT Southwestern recipients.
Dr. McKnight’s studies – focused on proteins of low sequence complexity – have revealed how these disordered proteins can reversibly self-associate to control innumerable forms of dynamic cellular organization and aggregate in a manner that leads to neurologic and neurodegenerative disease.
“His work over the past three decades has exemplified our institution’s commitment to curiosity-driven research by advancing our understanding of cellular and molecular mechanisms, which ultimately inform new approaches to disease treatment,” said Daniel K. Podolsky, M.D., President of UT Southwestern. “We are thrilled to see the importance of his fundamental discoveries into the role of low complexity proteins in basic cellular functions recognized by this year’s Lasker Basic Medical Research Award.”
Prior to the work that has garnered the Lasker Award, Dr. McKnight’s early studies of gene regulation led to the identification of the leucine zipper, a structural motif in transcription factors – proteins that regulate gene expression. This discovery helped clarify how the expression of cellular genes is turned on and off.
Teaming up with David Russell, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus and former Vice Provost and Dean of Basic Research, Dr. McKnight also discovered the HIF-2α transcription factor and identified its role in adapting cells and tissues to conditions of oxygen starvation. Working in collaboration with Richard Bruick, Ph.D., and synthetic chemists in the Biochemistry Department at UT Southwestern, Dr. McKnight discovered drug-like compounds capable of inhibiting the HIF-2α protein. In 2008, UT Southwestern licensed these chemicals to Peloton Therapeutics Inc., a Dallas-based biotechnology company founded by Dr. McKnight. Following extensive optimization and subsequent clinical trials, the chemical inhibitor of HIF-2α, designated belzutifan, was approved in 2021 by the Food and Drug Administration as a treatment for kidney cancer.
“I want to thank the Lasker Foundation for this great honor,” said Dr. McKnight, who holds the Distinguished Chair in Basic Biomedical Research at UT Southwestern. “I am also grateful to the colleagues and trainees who’ve worked with me over the years and to the leadership of UT Southwestern, who have created the environment for scientists to probe challenging and important questions.”
A former Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Dr. McKnight is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Other honors include the Robert A. Welch Award in Chemistry (2020), the Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences (2014), the National Institutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award (2004), the Monsanto Award from the National Academy of Sciences (1991), and the Eli Lilly Award from the American Society for Microbiology (1989).
(Credit: Lasker Foundation)
Dr. McKnight earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Texas at Austin, followed by a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Virginia. He did postdoctoral research at the Carnegie Institution of Washington before joining UT Southwestern in 1995. He is a member of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Dr. McKnight shares the 2025 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award with Dirk Görlich, Ph.D., a German biochemist who is director of the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences. Dr. Görlich is also being honored for his work on proteins of low sequence complexity.
The Lasker Awards will be presented in New York on Sept. 19.
Dr. Brown is a Regental Professor and holds the W.A. (Monty) Moncrief Distinguished Chair in Cholesterol and Arteriosclerosis Research and the Paul J. Thomas Chair in Medicine.
Dr. Chen holds the George L. MacGregor Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Science.
Dr. Goldstein is a Regental Professor and holds the Julie and Louis A. Beecherl, Jr. Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Research and the Paul J. Thomas Chair in Medicine.
Dr. Podolsky holds the Philip O’Bryan Montgomery, Jr., M.D. Distinguished Presidential Chair in Academic Administration and the Charles Cameron Sprague Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Science.
About UT Southwestern Medical Center
UT Southwestern, one of the nation’s premier academic medical centers, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institution’s faculty members have received six Nobel Prizes and include 24 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 23 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 13 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The full-time faculty of more than 3,200 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide care in more than 80 specialties to more than 140,000 hospitalized patients, more than 360,000 emergency room cases, and oversee nearly 5.1 million outpatient visits a year.