{"entity":{"id":"yechezkel-barenholz","kind":"person","name":"Yechezkel Barenholz","aka":[],"tldr":"Invented the chemistry that made Doxil work, the first nanomedicine any regulator approved, which is still a standard treatment for relapsed ovarian cancer three decades later.","summary":"Yechezkel Barenholz's Laboratory of Membrane and Liposome Research at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School devised the pegylated liposomal formulation of doxorubicin approved by the FDA in 1995 as Doxil, the first nano-drug approved anywhere. His own account in Journal of Controlled Release identifies three unrelated principles that had to work together: a polyethylene-glycol coat that keeps the liposome in circulation and away from the reticuloendothelial system, high and stable remote loading of doxorubicin driven by a transmembrane ammonium sulfate gradient that also allows release at the tumour, and a lipid bilayer held in a liquid-ordered phase by a high-melting phosphatidylcholine with cholesterol. The clinical effect is that hand-foot syndrome and mucositis replace the hair loss and heart damage of free doxorubicin. Barenholz's laboratory still publishes on liposome and PEGylation chemistry.","asOf":"2026-09-25","links":[{"label":"Laboratory of Membrane and Liposome Research, Hebrew University","url":"https://medicine.ekmd.huji.ac.il/en/research/yechezkelb/Pages/default.aspx"},{"label":"PubMed author search","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Barenholz%20Y%5BAuthor%5D%20liposome"}],"tags":["scientist","drug-delivery"],"related":[],"cancers":["ovarian","kaposi-sarcoma"],"sections":["drug-discovery","chemotherapy"],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":["pegylated-liposomal-doxorubicin","doxorubicin"],"companies":[],"institutions":["hebrew-university-of-jerusalem","hadassah"],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"role":"Professor, Laboratory of Membrane and Liposome Research, Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School","institutionId":"hebrew-university-of-jerusalem","specialisms":["Liposome science","Nanomedicine","Drug delivery","PEGylation"],"profiles":[{"label":"Laboratory of Membrane and Liposome Research, Hebrew University","url":"https://medicine.ekmd.huji.ac.il/en/research/yechezkelb/Pages/default.aspx"},{"label":"PubMed author search","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Barenholz%20Y%5BAuthor%5D%20liposome"}],"papers":[{"title":"Doxil, the first FDA-approved nano-drug: lessons learned","journal":"Journal of Controlled Release","year":2012,"doi":"10.1016/j.jconrel.2012.03.020"},{"title":"PEGylation technology: addressing concerns, moving forward","year":2025,"note":"Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School; indexed on Europe PMC"}]},"route":"/people/yechezkel-barenholz/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"kaposi-sarcoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Kaposi sarcoma","route":"/cancers/kaposi-sarcoma/"},{"id":"ovarian","kind":"cancer","name":"Ovarian cancer","route":"/cancers/ovarian/"}],"section":[{"id":"chemotherapy","kind":"section","name":"Chemotherapy","route":"/fronts/chemotherapy/"},{"id":"drug-discovery","kind":"section","name":"Drug Discovery Platforms","route":"/fronts/drug-discovery/"}],"drug":[{"id":"doxorubicin","kind":"drug","name":"Doxorubicin","route":"/drugs/doxorubicin/"},{"id":"pegylated-liposomal-doxorubicin","kind":"drug","name":"Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin","route":"/drugs/pegylated-liposomal-doxorubicin/"}],"institution":[{"id":"hadassah","kind":"institution","name":"Hadassah Medical Center","route":"/institutions/hadassah/"},{"id":"hebrew-university-of-jerusalem","kind":"institution","name":"Hebrew University of Jerusalem","route":"/institutions/hebrew-university-of-jerusalem/"}]}}