What Can We Learn from the ACE2 Cellular Receptor – Past, Present, and Future?
Channel: HMS Center for Bioethics
Date: 2021-11-23

Dr. Josef Penninger studies the cellular and molecular mechanisms behind a range of illnesses, including cancer and infectious diseases. As a young investigator in the 1990s, Dr. Penninger discovered the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (or ACE2) cellular receptor, a protein on the surface of many cell types that acts as a "cellular doorway" to allow viruses to enter. During the 2002 SARS outbreak, Dr. Penninger and others discovered that ACE2 played a key role in Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infections. 
 
When the viral genome sequence of COVID-19 was released in early 2020, Dr. Penninger saw that it was very similar to the coronavirus that caused the first SARS outbreak - they both entered using the ACE2 cellular receptor. As COVID-19 spread rapidly around the world, many realized how important Dr. Penninger's research could be in this context. 
 
The study of ACE2 and its role in SARS-CoV infections is bringing science closer to developing medical interventions for the COVID-19 pandemic; however, there are many bumps along the road to clinical translation. Drs. Hyun and Penninger will take the audience through some of the major scientific and ethical lessons learned from the clinical translation of ACE2. During the interactive portion of the session, they will explain how ongoing explorations of this cellular mechanism might provide important insights into a host of other diseases, including cancer.    

Ethics in Research and Biotechnology Consortia
November 19, 2021 
Presented by: Josef Penninger, MD 
Moderated by: Insoo Hyun, PhD

Learn more about the Ethics in Research and Biotechnology series at https://bioethics.hms.harvard.edu/events/weekly-consortia/ethics-research-and-biotechnology