{{short description|German-born cell biologist}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Zena Werb | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1945|03|24}} | birth_place = KZ Bergen-Belsen | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|2020|06|16|1945|03|24}} | death_place = San Francisco, California, United States | fields = Cell biology | workplaces = University of California, San Francisco | education = {{Plainlist| * University of Toronto * Rockefeller University }} | thesis_title = Dynamics of macrophage membrane cholesterol | thesis_year = 1971 | doctoral_advisor = Zanvil Cohn | known_for = Study of the extracellular matrix | awards = E.B. Wilson Medal, 2007 | website = {{URL|https://werblab.ucsf.edu}} }}

'''Zena Werb''' (24 March 1945 – 16 June 2020) was a professor and the Vice Chair of Anatomy at the University of California, San Francisco. She was also the co-leader of the Cancer, Immunity, and Microenvironment Program at the Hellen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and a member of the Executive Committee of the Sabre-Sandler Asthma Basic Research Center at UCSF.<ref name=cim>{{cite web|title=About Cancer, Immunity, and Microenvironment|url=http://cancer.ucsf.edu/research/programs/immunity|website=University of California, San Francisco|access-date=4 July 2015}}</ref><ref name=ss>{{cite web|title=Zena Werb, Ph.D.|url=http://sabre.ucsf.edu/executive/zena_werb.html|website=University of California, San Francisco|access-date=4 July 2015|archive-date=5 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705181744/http://sabre.ucsf.edu/executive/zena_werb.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Her research focused on features of the microenvironment surrounding cells, with particular interest in the extracellular matrix and the role of its protease enzymes in cell signaling.<ref name=research>{{cite web|title=Research|url=https://werblab.ucsf.edu/research|website=Werb Lab|publisher=University of California, San Francisco|access-date=4 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Littlepage|first1=Laurie E.|last2=Ewald|first2=Andrew J.|last3=Alexander|first3=Caroline|last4=Casbon|first4=Amy-Jo|last5=Lu|first5=Pengfei|last6=Kessenbrock|first6=Kai|last7=Provot|first7=Sylvain|last8=Phillips|first8=Joanna J.|last9=Kouros-Mehr|first9=Hosein|last10=Chan|first10=Matilda|last11=Welm|first11=Bryan|date=2020-08-10|title=Zena Werb (1945–2020)|journal=Developmental Cell|language=en|volume=54|issue=3|pages=299–301|doi=10.1016/j.devcel.2020.07.012|issn=1534-5807|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==Early life and education== Zena Werb was born in Germany in 1945 in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp (KZ Bergen-Belsen), a few weeks before the camp was liberated. Both of her parents, who were Polish-Jewish, survived the war, with her father having fled to Italy. Her family was able to reunite at a refugee camp in Italy in 1947;<ref name="Egeblad">{{Cite journal|last=Egeblad|first=Mikala|date=2021-03-04|title=Zena Werb (1945–2020): Matrix Metalloproteinases, Microenvironments, and Mentoring|journal=Annual Review of Cancer Biology|language=en|volume=5|issue=1|pages=1–16|doi=10.1146/annurev-cancerbio-081320-114426|doi-access=free| issn=2472-3428}}</ref> they emigrated to Canada in 1948, where Werb was raised on a farm in Ontario.<ref name=jsc>{{cite journal|last1=Watt|first1=F. M.|title=Zena Werb|journal=Journal of Cell Science|date=22 February 2004|volume=117|issue=6|pages=803–804|doi=10.1242/jcs.01031|pmid=14963020|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=ascb>{{cite web|title=ASCB Profiles|url=http://ascb.org/files/profiles/Zena_Werb.pdf|website=American Society for Cell Biology|access-date=4 July 2015|archive-date=5 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705091409/http://ascb.org/files/profiles/Zena_Werb.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Though her father was previously a mathematician, he became a farmer.<ref name="Egeblad"/>

Werb received her B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Toronto in 1966, having changed her major from geophysics after being told there were no accommodations for women at a field site.<ref name=jsc /><ref name=dmm>{{cite journal|last1=Kain|first1=K. H.|title=The extracellular matrix and disease: an interview with Zena Werb|journal=Disease Models & Mechanisms|date=10 August 2010|volume=3|issue=9–10|pages=513–516|doi=10.1242/dmm.006338|pmid=20699476|s2cid=116090690 |doi-access=}}</ref> She received her Ph.D. in Cell Biology from Rockefeller University in 1971, working under the supervision of Zanvil Cohn on a thesis titled "Dynamics of macrophage membrane cholesterol".<ref>As cited in: {{cite journal|last1=Werb|first1=Zena|last2=Cohn|first2=Zanvil A.|title=Cholesterol metabolism in the macrophage. I. The regulation of cholesterol exchange|journal=The Journal of Experimental Medicine|date=1971|volume=134|issue=6|pages=1545–69|pmid=5126640|doi=10.1084/jem.134.6.1545|pmc=2139099}}</ref> After graduation she worked at the Strangeways Research Laboratory in Cambridge, United Kingdom as a postdoctoral fellow with John T. Dingle from 1971 to 1973 and as a research associate from 1973 to 1975.<ref name=ss /><ref name=ascb /><ref name=bio>{{cite web|title=Zena Werb|url=https://werblab.ucsf.edu/users/zenawerb|website=Werb Lab|publisher=University of California, San Francisco|access-date=4 July 2015|archive-date=21 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160421023305/http://werblab.ucsf.edu/users/zenawerb|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Academic career== Werb spent a year as a visiting assistant professor at Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire before moving to the University of California, San Francisco in 1976, where she became a full professor in 1983.<ref name=ss /><ref name=ascb /><ref name=bio /> She served as president of the American Society for Cell Biology in 2004.<ref name=ascbpres>{{cite web|title=ASCB Presidents|url=https://ascb.org/ascb-presidents/|website=American Society for Cell Biology|access-date=4 July 2015}}</ref> She spoke of the value of academic sabbaticals, and in 2007 she spent a sabbatical at the Max Planck Institute through an Alexander von Humboldt Research Award.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hoag|first1=Hannah|title=The seven-year itch|journal=Nature|date=16 August 2007|volume=448|issue=7155|pages=834–835|doi=10.1038/nj7155-834a|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=hd>{{cite web|title=Zena Werb, Ph.D.|url=https://cancer.ucsf.edu/people/profiles/werb_zena.3747|website=UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center|access-date=4 July 2015}}</ref>

Werb wrote and gave interviews on her experiences as a woman in science, describing the environment in which she trained as sexist and noting that, despite improvements in women's representation in the sciences since her training, sexism "has gone underground"<ref name=jsc /> and low representation of women in top positions remains a problem.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Neugebauer|first1=Karla M.|title=Keeping Tabs on the Women: Life Scientists in Europe|journal=PLOS Biology|date=2006|volume=4|issue=4|pages=e97|doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0040097|pmid=16602822|pmc=1435409 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Werb|first1=Z.|title=The Joy of a Career in Cell Biology|journal=Molecular Biology of the Cell|date=15 November 2010|volume=21|issue=22|pages=3764–3766|doi=10.1091/mbc.E10-05-0413|pmid=21079003|pmc=2982121}}</ref>

She was a member of the Editorial Board for ''Developmental Cell''.

==Awards and honors== * FASEB Excellence in Science Award from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (1966) <ref name="hd" /> * Guggenheim Fellowship (1985-6) <ref name="ascb" /> * American Association for Cancer Research Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Memorial Lectureship (2001) <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aacr.org/professionals/research/scientific-achievement-awards-and-lecturships/scientific-award-recipients/aacr-wicr-charlotte-friend-lectureship-recipients/|title=AACR-Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Memorial Lectureship: Past Recipients|website=American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)|language=en|access-date=2020-02-09}}</ref> * UCSF Annual Faculty Research Lectureship (2001) <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://senate.ucsf.edu/faculty-research-lecture/basic-science-44th|title=Faculty Research Lecture in Basic Science 44th {{!}} UCSF Academic Senate|website=senate.ucsf.edu|access-date=2020-02-09}}</ref> * Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2003) <ref name="hd" /> * E.B. Wilson Medal from the American Society for Cell Biology (2007) <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ascb.org/award/e-b-wilson-medal/|title=E.B. Wilson Medal|website=ASCB|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-09}}</ref> * Lifetime Achievement Award from Women in Cell Biology, an ASCB subgroup (2010) <ref name="wicb">{{cite web|url=http://ar.ascb.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=624&Itemid=452|title=WICB Awards|website=American Society for Cell Biology|access-date=4 July 2015|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304040446/http://ar.ascb.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=624&Itemid=452|url-status=dead}}</ref> * Member of the United States National Academy of Sciences (2010) <ref name="hd" /> * UCSF Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award (2015) <ref name="mentoring">{{cite web|url=http://anatomy.ucsf.edu/news/2015/04/10/zena.html|title=Zena Werb receives UCSF 2015 Mentoring Award|date=10 April 2015|website=Department of Anatomy|publisher=University of California, San Francisco|access-date=4 July 2015|archive-date=5 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705184114/http://anatomy.ucsf.edu/news/2015/04/10/zena.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Research== Werb's research group studies the effects on cells of the extracellular matrix microenvironment and its component proteases, particularly matrix metalloproteinases. The group also investigates the role of these effects on biological processes such as stem cell maturation and neoplasia, for which they use breast cancer in mice as a model.<ref name=research /><ref name=dmm /> Her work in establishing the active role of the ECM in normal cell signaling and in cancer progression is widely recognized as highly influential.<ref name=ascb /><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Egeblad|first1=M|last2=Werb|first2=Z|title=New functions for the matrix metalloproteinases in cancer progression.|journal=Nature Reviews. Cancer|date=March 2002|volume=2|issue=3|pages=161–74|pmid=11990853|doi=10.1038/nrc745|s2cid=7990149}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

== External links == * [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Werb+Z%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=26155427 Papers] on PubMed * [http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/werb-zena.pdf Fiona M. Watt, "Zena Werb", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2021)]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Werb, Zena}} Category:1945 births Category:2020 deaths Category:Bergen-Belsen concentration camp survivors Category:Canadian people of Polish-Jewish descent Category:Jewish Canadian scientists Category:German emigrants to Canada Category:American women biologists Category:Canadian women biologists Category:University of California, San Francisco faculty Category:Rockefeller University alumni Category:University of Toronto alumni Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:Academics from Ontario Category:20th-century Canadian biologists Category:20th-century American women scientists Category:21st-century Canadian biologists Category:21st-century American women scientists Category:20th-century Canadian women scientists Category:21st-century Canadian women scientists Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine