Mojsov was born and raised in Skopje, SR Macedonia, which was then part of SFR Yugoslavia.[2] She received her bachelor's degree in physical chemistry at the University of Belgrad e in 1971. The following year she left Europe for the United States to join the graduate program at Rockefeller University. At Rockefeller she worked alongside Robert Bruce Merrifield (1984 Nobel Prize in Chemistry) studying the synthesis of peptides, the building blocks of proteins.[3] Mojsov focused her research specifically on the synthesis of glucagon, a hormone which is released by the pancreas and is involved in regulating carbohydrate metabolism. She graduated from Rockefeller in 1978 with a Ph.D. in biochemistry. After graduation, Mojsov continued in Merrifield's lab as a research associate where she resumed exploring glucagon synthesis.
Research and career
In 1983 Mojsov was made the inaugural director of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute peptide research facility at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, MA.[4] She arrived at MGH shortly after Joel Habener had cloned proglucagon by studying anglerfish found in Boston Harbor. Mojsov worked on the identification of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). GLP-1 is a hormone generated by the gut that triggers the release of insulin, and is composed from a piece of proglucagon. To try to identify which specific fragment of proglucagon was the active hormone GLP-1, Mojsov synthesized a GLP-1 antibody and used a radioimmunoassay to track its presence. She confirmed that a specific stretch of 31 amino acids from the proglucagon molecule was the active GLP-1 hormone that triggers insulin release.[5][6] Together with Gordon Weir at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston and Habener, Mojsov showed that small quantities of lab-synthesized GLP-1 could trigger the release of insulin.[7][8]
There was research dating back to the 1950s and 1960s around glucagon as involved in carbohydrate metabolism,[9] but it was Mojsov's work that set the foundation for major advances in therapeutic implementation. It was Mojsov who first identified the precise place in which to cleave the proglucagon to create the active molecule; and then, conducting tests with radioactive markers, Mojsov proved her hypothesis. These findings would later become the basis on which major drugs would be based.[10]
In the 1990s, Mojsov returned to New York City and to Rockefeller University this time joining the laboratory of Ralph M. Steinman (2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine). In 1992, the group at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) used the GLP-1 Mojsov had isolated in human testing.[11] Without her knowledge, the GLP-1 derivatives Mojsov synthesized then were patented as peptides able to prompt the release of insulin. The patent listed Joel Habener as the sole-creator.[12] Mojsov fought to have her name included in patents. MGH eventually agreed to amend four patents to include her name and she received one-third of drug royalties for one year.[13] Her collaborators continue to receive various awards as new versions of GLP-1 have been approved and grown popular.[13][14][15][16] Mojsov continues to speak up to champion the importance of accurate attribution in scientific discovery as this occurs. Drugs that emulate the action of GLP-1 have been developed into treatments for obesity and diabetes by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.[17]
Prizes and awards
2023: VinFuture, Innovators with Outstanding Achievements in Emerging Fields – Jens Juul Holst, Joel Francis Habener, Daniel Joshua Drucker and Svetlana Mojsov[18]
2023: Nature 10 most influential people who shaped science[19]
2024: Pearl Meister GreengardPrize by the Rockefeller University[20][21]
2024: Time 100 Most Influential People, Pioneers section[22]
2024: Princess of Asturias Awards, Technical and Scientific Research – Daniel J. Drucker, Jeffrey M. Friedman, Joel F. Habener, Jens Juul Holst and Svetlana Mojsov[23]
2024: Tang Prize, Biopharmaceutical Science – Joel F. Habener, Svetlana Mojsov and Jens Juul Holst[24]
2025: Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences - Daniel J. Drucker, Joel Habener, Jens Juul Holst, Lotte Bjerre Knudsen and Svetlana Mojsov; Alberto Ascherio and Stephen L. Hauser; and David R. Liu[28]
2025: Warren Triennial Prize – Joel Habener, Daniel J. Drucker, Jens Holst and Svetlana Mojsov[29]
2027: Elaine Redding Brinster Prize in Science or Medicine - Svetlana Mojsov and Lotte Bjerre Knudsen[39]
Selected publications
Mojsov, Svetlana; Merrifield, R. B. (1984–12). "An improved synthesis of crystalline mammalian glucagon". European Journal of Biochemistry. 145 (3): 601–605. doi:10.1111/j.1432-1033.1984.tb08599.x. ISSN 0014–2956.
Nathan, David M; Schreiber, Eric; Fogel, Howard; Mojsov, Svetlana; Habener, Joel F (1992-02-01). "Insulinotropic Action of Glucagonlike Peptide-I-(7–37) in Diabetic and Nondiabetic Subjects". Diabetes Care. 15 (2): 270–276. doi:10.2337/diacare.15.2.270. ISSN 0149–5992
Personal life
Mosjov was born in Skopje (former Yugoslavia). When she was a teenager, her family moved to Belgrade where she attended middle school and later attained her undergraduate degree at the University of Belgrade. Mojsov's father, Lazar Mojsov was a journalist, politician, and diplomat. At graduate school Mojsov met her future husband, Michel C. Nussenzweig.
In popular culture
In the book Ozempic, la révolution de l'obésité̶L’enquête, entitled A race for patents and Nobel Prizes, author Fabrice Delaye dedicates the third chapter to Mojsov. Delaye summarizes: “In 1982, the identification in animals of the slimming molecule GLP-1 triggered a fierce competition between Danish and American researchers to find it in humans.” It was in large part thanks to Mojsov's critical contribution - she was the first to identify and synthesize the correct molecule - that the American team succeeded first.[40]
↑Mojsov, S. (1992). "Structural requirements for biological activity of glucagon-like peptide-I". International Journal of Peptide and Protein Research. 40 (3–4): 333–343. doi:10.1111/j.1399-3011.1992.tb00309.x. ISSN 0367-8377. PMID 1478791.
12Donnellan, Aimee (November 18, 2025). Off the scales: The inside story of Ozempic and the race to cure obesity (First ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN978-1-250-38906-0.
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