Stanley J. Korsmeyer

Stanley J. Korsmeyer
Korsmeyer in 1992
Born	(1950-06-08)June 8, 1950 Beardstown, Illinois, U.S.
Died	March 31, 2005(2005-03-31) (aged 54) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Education	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign University of Illinois College of Medicine University of California, San Francisco
Known for	Co-discovering Bcl-2 Studying role of apoptosis in cancer development
Spouse	Susan Reynard
Children	2
Awards	Wiley Prize (2002) Bristol-Myers Squibb Award Charles S. Mott Prize
Scientific career
Fields	Cell biology oncology
Institutions	National Cancer Institute Washington University Dana–Farber Cancer Institute

Stanley Joel Korsmeyer (June 8, 1950 – March 31, 2005) was an American research scientist known for his work on B cell lymphomas and apoptosis. Born and educated in the US state of Illinois, Korsmeyer spent most of his career as a professor at Washington University School of Medicine and later the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute. He rose to prominence in the early 1980s as a research fellow at the National Cancer Institute. There he co-discovered the genetic cause of most cases of the cancer follicular lymphoma – the misregulation of the gene Bcl-2. Korsmeyer went on to start his own laboratory at Washington University in St. Louis, further studying the role of Bcl-2 in cell biology. His group's work expanded the paradigm of cancer-causing genes, providing the first example of how interfering with programmed cell death could lead to cancer development. Korsmeyer authored over 250 scientific papers over the course of his career. He was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences at the age of 45. Korsmeyer died of lung cancer in 2005, at the age of 54.