An interview with Dr. Erwin Goldberg

• Published in: Biology of reproduction Vol. 104; no. 3; pp. 492 - 494
• Main Author: Yan, Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Society for the Study of Reproduction 01-03-2021; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Animals; Antigens; Biochemistry; Biology; Career development planning; Careers; Cloning; Collaboration; College teachers; Conferences; Contraceptive Agents, Male - history; Contraceptive Agents, Male - pharmacology; Dehydrogenases; Fertility; Gene expression; Goldberg; Goldberg, Erwin; Graduate students; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Humans; Infertility; INTERVIEW; Isoenzymes - antagonists & inhibitors; Isoenzymes - history; Isoenzymes - metabolism; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase - antagonists & inhibitors; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase - history; L-Lactate Dehydrogenase - metabolism; Laboratories; Male; Medical research; Mentoring; Metabolism; Proteins; Research - history; Sperm; Spermatogenesis; Spermatogenesis - physiology; Testes; United States; United States
• ISSN: 0006-3363; 1529-7268
• DOI: 10.1093/biolre/ioaa188

Dr. Erwin Goldberg is a Professor Emeritus of Molecular Biosciences at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. After finishing college at the State University of New York, Binghamton, New York, he pursued his PhD in the State University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa. Dr. Goldberg joined Northwestern University as Assistant Professor in 1963 and worked there continuously until 2013. Over his long research career of >50 years, he has been working on male reproduction in general and spermatogenesis in particular. His lab first discovered the sperm-specific isozyme of lactate dehydrogenase and later demonstrated that it is required for sperm motility and male fertility [1–8]. This research received continuous NIH funding support for 36 years. He has published >190 papers and book chapters. He received the 2009 Distinguished Service Award and 2011 Distinguished Andrologist Award from the American Society of Andrology. He is now collaborating with several investigators to develop a non-hormonal male contraceptive by targeting LDHC. I have personally interacted with Dr. Goldberg on many occasions. In particular, I have attended several times an annual meeting first started in 1965 called “Gene Families and Isozymes.” Erv was one of the organizers. His deep knowledge of male germ cells and spermatogenesis and his gentle and humble personality have deeply impressed me. I feel honored to chat with him recently and would like to share our conversation with the readers of Biology of Reproduction.