Heralded geneticist credits Noll with fostering passion for science

6/21/2024

As a young girl growing up in East Chicago, Guillermina Lozano knew she loved learning. When she found herself at Bishop Noll her freshman year of high school, that fire inside of her was further ignited by an atmosphere devoted to education. So much so that when her family moved to Whiting a few years later and her dad suggested she attend public school, she found a job and paid for her own tuition and bus fare to continue going to Noll.

Her dedication to her education paid off as Dr. Guillermina “Gigi” Lozano is now a world-renowned geneticist, leading her own cancer research lab at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, one of the world's most respected cancer centers focused on patient care, research, education and prevention.

At Noll, she took biology with Mrs. Hedelius, then chemistry with Mr. Pikul and said both of her teachers were fabulous.

“Those specific teachers were really critical for my love of science. They were good teachers and it was the logic behind the sciences that really appealed to me. Those were the two classes that I distinctly remember thinking, ‘Oh wow, I’ve got to do this.’ ”

Lozano describes herself as a bookworm who loves learning.

“I just remember walking the hallways and loving the whole atmosphere of education,” she said. “I was always in the hardest courses.” Math and English classes were very important for my career as well.

Lozano attended Bishop Noll until her senior year, as her family moved to McAllen, Texas, in the summer of 1974.

She went on to receive a bachelor’s of science degree in biology and mathematics, magna cum laude, at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She completed graduate studies at Rutgers University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and a post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Arnold Levine at Princeton University.

“What I do is study how a normal cell becomes a cancer cell,” Lozano said. “I study it through genetics. Cancer is a genetic disease, which means that a normal cell acquires genetic changes in its DNA that changes how that cell behaves. Instead of staying in its niche, where it’s supposed to function and live, it begins to proliferate abnormally.

“The gene I work on is called p53 and it is altered in 60 to 70 percent of cancers. It is one stop in the process of taking a normal cell to a cancer.”

She is now at the forefront of p53 gene research and has received international recognition for her studies of the p53 tumor suppressor pathway, which is undermined in a large percent of human cancers via mutations and deletions of p53. She has received the Minorities in Cancer Research Jane Cooke Wright Lectureship and the Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Lectureship awards both from the American Association for Cancer Research. She is also the recipient of distinguished alumni awards from both her undergraduate and graduate alma maters.

Lozano was hired as an instructor at The University of Texas’ MD Anderson Cancer Center in 1987 and quickly rose through the ranks to her current position as professor and chair of the Department of Genetics.

She is an elected member of several scientific organizations and is most proud of her membership in the National Academy of Sciences because she meets with other outstanding scientists and learns about other fields.

“The meetings are wonderful because they focus on different aspects of science. You can go to physics lectures, engineering lectures – it really expands your knowledge beyond your specific area of study,” she said.

She also serves as a professor for a graduate program with 50-60 graduate students per year. Although she isn’t required to teach, she loves it. Her most rewarding accomplishment is to mentor her graduate students and watch them evolve into critical thinking scientists … It’s rewarding to watch them grow and learn.”

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