Michael A. Zasloff, M.D., Ph.D

Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics
Professor of Pediatrics Director, Surgical Immunology
Department of Surgery

maz5@georgteown.edu

Over the past 25 years Dr. Michael Zasloff's scientific interests have centered on the innate immune systems of animals. He is the recipient of numerous awards, and is the author of over 150 original peer-reviewed publications and 45 US patents.

While at the NIH, Dr. Zasloff discovered that frogs produced powerful antibiotics in their skin, which he called Magainins, based on his observations of the remarkable healing properties of these animals after surgery. Along with Hans Boman in Sweden, and Robert Lehrer at UCLA, he established the widespread existence of antimicrobial peptides throughout nature. His work has led to the discovery of epithelial antimicrobial defenses in vertebrates including the discovery of the magainin peptide family in amphibia, and comparable systems in mammals. Studies from his laboratory have helped elucidate the pathophysiology of diseases such as cystic fibrosis and Crohn’s disease.

Dr. Zasloff and his team have been responsible for the discovery, clinical and commercial development of several compounds, including pexiganan, a synthetic antimicrobial peptide developed for the treatment of infections in diabetics and squalamine, an aminosterol developed to treat cancer and retinal angiopathy.

In 1993, Dr. Zasloff and his group discovered squalamine in tissues of the dogfish shark, the first of a novel class of steroids, called aminosterols. Subsequently his group discovered squalamine to be a potent antiangiogenic compound with activity against solid tumors and angiopathic disorders of the retina. His group reported on the discovery of another aminosterol isolated from the shark, MSI-1436, which was shown to act centrally in mammals to control food intake; this compound entered clinical trials in late 2001.

In the 1980's, Dr. Zasloff was Chief, Human Genetics Branch, National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, at the National Institutes of Health. In 1988 Dr Zasloff founded Magainin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. a publicly traded biotechnology company. In the same year he joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine as the Charles E. H. Upham Professor of Pediatrics and Genetics, and assumed the position of Director of the Division of Human Genetics of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

In July 1992 Dr. Zasloff left Penn and joined Magainin on a full time basis, and served as Executive Vice President and President of the Magainin Research Institute, a basic research division of the Company. From July 1996 through November 2000 Dr. Zasloff was Vice Chairman of the Board of Magainin Pharmaceuticals.

In 2002, Dr. Zasloff was named Dean of Research and Translational Science at Georgetown, tasked with the integration of the basic science conducted at Georgetown with the clinical environment of the Medical Center. Since 2004, Dr. Zasloff has been actively engaged in studies of innate immunity within the Transplant Institute of the Department of Surgery. His research interests remain focused on the role of antimicrobial peptides and aminosterols in health and disease, and application to the prevention and treatment of disease.

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