ROLF LUFT Award and Symposium, September 10, 2025

Recipient of the Rolf Luft Award 2025

Professor Ronald M Evans, The Salk Institute, La Jolla, USA, receives the

ROLF LUFT AWARD 2025 for the discovery and the functional characterization of the superfamily of nuclear hormone receptors, ligand activated transcription factors that play a key role in physiology and metabolic disease

 

Motivation for the Rolf Luft Award 2025

Ronald Evans Scientific Contributions to Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism

Dr. Ronald M. Evans is a renowned molecular geneticist known for groundbreaking work on nuclear hormone receptors that revolutionized our understanding of molecular mechanisms governing gene regulation and metabolic processes.

His 1985 discovery of human

glucocorticoid receptor (GR), its complete sequence, molecular blueprint and function, played a

pivotal role in unraveling the complex interactions between hormones and genes, opening new

avenues of research and shedding light on how hormones control various physiological

processes, including metabolism, development, and immune responses.

In 1988

Evans proposed the existence of a Steroid-Thyroid Receptor Superfamily. This was a paradigm shift launching a new era of endocrinology, and ultimately revealing more than 42

previously unknown ‘orphan receptors’ including receptors for Vitamins A and D, thyroid

hormone (co-published with Björn Vennström), prostaglandins, bile acids, xenobiotics and more.

This led to many new treatments in cancer, metabolism and diabetes.

In 2020, Evans’ lab

uncovered a role for ERR-gamma, a key factor for making transplantable human beta cells,

bringing us closer to potential cures for Type 1 diabetes.

From this body of work, it’s clear

Evans has dedicated his career to harnessing nuclear hormone receptors to increase the

effectiveness of many disease therapies.

Rolf Luft

Father of Endocrinology in Sweden

He was born in 1914 in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1944, he

obtained his PhD from Karolinska Institute for his thesis

entitled: “A study on Hirsutism, Cushing´s Syndrome and

Precocious Puberty”.

A grant from the Knut & Alice Wallenberg Foundation in 1946

gave him the opportunity to visit Massachusetts General

Hospital in the USA for one year, working with Fuller Albright.

As a professor and head of the Department of Endocrinology at

Karolinska Hospital, he has supervised a legion of scholars in

diabetes.

He discovered in 1958 a disturbed function of mitochondria as

a cause of disease (referred to as Luft disease) that led to the

development of Mitochondrial Medicine for which the word

identifies him as the Father of Mitochondrial Medicine. In the

early descriptions of mitochondrial diseases, diabetes mellitus

was thought to be related.

In 1988, mutations in the mitochondria were associated with

diabetes mellitus that led to the discovery of mitochondrial

diabetes.

He received innumerable awards, a number of honorary

doctorates and was made an honorary member of several

diabetic associations and scientific academies in different

countries.

He served as President of the International Diabetes

Federation (IDF) for six years and was a founding member of The

European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD).

He was a

member of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute 1961 –

1980 and served as chairman of the Nobel Committee for

Physiology or Medicine 1976 – 1978.

Rolf Luft published the first national program for diabetes care

1967.

Rolf Luft died in 2007