H. Franklin Bunn, MD
Hematology Division
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts

Session Chair
Nitrite-heme Biochemistry

Dr Bunn earned his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Harvard College in 1957 and his MD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1961. He completed his residency in internal medicine at New York Hospital (Cornell) in 1964. Dr Bunn is presently Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director of Hematology Research at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

The first 20 years of Dr Bunn's research focused on hemoglobin. He identified the sites on deoxyhemoglobin responsible for the binding of the physiologically important modifier 2,3-BPG. He demonstrated the existence of asymmetrical hybrid hemoglobins in vitro and in vivo and showed that the charge on the subunit is an important determinant of the rate of assembly of the ab dimer and therefore contributes significantly to the hematologic phenotype. In collaboration with Paul Gallop, Dr Bunn demonstrated non-enzymatic glycation of hemoglobin, lens crystalline, and collagen, modifications that appear to have an important impact on aging and on the long-term complications of diabetes. In collaboration with Dr Mark Goldberg, he has investigated the impact of non-S hemoglobins on the molecular pathogenesis and clinical course of sickle cell disease. Since 1985, Dr Bunn has been studying erythropoietin (Epo), the hormone that regulates red blood cell formation. He and his colleagues identified the sites on Epo responsible for the binding to its receptor. Bunn's lab has contributed to current understanding of the sensing pathway and the transcriptional assembly responsible for the hypoxic induction of Epo and other oxygen-responsive gene products. Recently the lab cloned and characterized a novel flavoheme protein that resides in the endoplasmic reticulum and protects cells that actively synthesize proteins from oxidant stress. Mice deficient in this gene have insulin-dependent diabetes owing to loss of pancreatic b-cells.

Dr Bunn is past President of the American Society of Hematology and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.