Michael Rosenblatt

Michael Rosenblatt elucidated the structure-activity relationships of parathyroid hormone through systematic synthesis and analysis of PTH fragments and analogs. His work established which regions of this 84-amino acid hormone are essential for receptor binding versus activation, enabling development of the first peptide hormone antagonist effective in vivo.

Rosenblatt received his B.A. summa cum laude from Columbia University and his M.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School, completing his internship, residency, and endocrinology training at Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1981, he became Chief of the Endocrine Unit at MGH, where his laboratory synthesized truncated and modified PTH sequences to map functional domains.

His studies demonstrated that the N-terminal 1-34 fragment of PTH retains full biological activity, while further truncation identified minimal sequences for receptor binding and signal transduction. By synthesizing analogs with amino acid substitutions at specific positions, Rosenblatt defined how the hormone interacts with its receptor at the molecular level. This work led to development of PTH 7-34, which binds the receptor without activating it, the first peptide hormone antagonist shown to block hormone action in living animals.

The Fuller Albright Award recognized his contributions to parathyroid hormone research. Rosenblatt subsequently served as Senior Vice President for Research at Merck, where he co-led development of alendronate for osteoporosis. He later became Dean of Tufts University School of Medicine, held the George R. Minot Professorship at Harvard, served as President of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and became Chief Medical Officer of Merck. He was a scientific founder of ProScript, which discovered bortezomib for multiple myeloma, and Radius Pharmaceuticals.