Svetlana Mojsov

Svetlana Mojsov (born 1947, Skopje, Yugoslavia [now in the Republic of North Macedonia]) is a Yugoslavian-born Macedonian American chemist known for her pioneering contributions to the discovery and understanding of peptide hormones that regulate physiological processes. Her work has been especially influential in the study of glucagon-like peptides (GLPs), a class of hormones that play a central role in glucose metabolism and that have informed the development of treatments for type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Education and early career

Mojsov was raised in Skopje, the capital city of North Macedonia (then part of Yugoslavia). She pursued higher education in Europe, attending the University of Belgrade, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in physical chemistry in 1971. She subsequently embarked on Ph.D. studies at the Rockefeller University in New York City. At Rockefeller, she joined the laboratory of American biochemist Bruce Merrifield, who later won the 1984 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for developing a revolutionizing method for polypeptide synthesis. Mojsov herself became interested in peptide hormones and metabolic regulation, and in 1978, after successfully synthesizing glucagon, she graduated with a Ph.D. in biochemistry. She then began postdoctoral studies in Merrifield’s laboratory, making refinements in methods of glucagon synthesis.

GLP-1 and GLP-1 receptor agonists

In 1983, after serving as a research associate at Rockefeller, Mojsov joined the faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where she was a member of the endocrine unit and an assistant professor in biochemistry. Her research increasingly centered on the proglucagon gene, which produces GLPs, and she began to suspect that GLPs had an important role in the gut’s response to glucose. In 1986–87 Mojsov and colleagues demonstrated the existence of two distinct GLPs—GLP-1 and GLP-2—and characterized their functions. Her research specifically identified GLP-1 as an incretin hormone, a type of hormone that stimulates insulin release in response to food intake.

Mojsov’s discoveries laid the groundwork for the development of GLP-1 receptor agonists, a group of drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes. These drugs mimic the action of GLP-1, enhancing insulin secretion, reducing blood sugar levels, and promoting satiety. In 2006 she was included as a co-inventor on patents demonstrating the use of GLP-1 (7-37), a truncated form of the GLP-1 hormone, as type 2 diabetes medications. The patents were issued to Massachusetts General Hospital, which subsequently licensed them to Novo Nordisk, a pharmaceutical company specializing in diabetes treatments. Novo Nordisk went on to develop highly successful GLP-1 receptor agonists, including liraglutide and semaglutide, which today are widely used for diabetes and weight management.

Later career and honors

From 1983 to 1990, while in Massachusetts, Mojsov was an associate of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In 1990 she returned to Rockefeller, initially as an assistant professor and later (from 2002) serving as a research associate professor.

Mojsov was recognized for her discoveries with multiple awards and honors, including the 2024 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award (shared with Joel Habener and Lotte Bjerre Knudsen) and the 2024 Tang Prize in Biopharmaceutical Science (shared with Habener and Jens Juul Holst). Mojsov, along with Habener and scientist Dan Drucker, was listed among the 100 most influential people of 2024 by Time magazine.