Goldstein, Joseph Leonard

Goldstein, Joseph Leonard (gōld`stīn), 1940–, American molecular geneticist, b. Sumter, S.C., M.D. Univ. of Texas at Dallas, 1966. He worked as a biomedical researcher at the National Heart Institute (1968–70) and Washington Univ. (1970–72) before returning to the Southwestern Medical School of the Univ. of Texas at Dallas as professor. Goldstein and colleague Michael S. Brown researched cholesterol metabolism and discovered that human cells have low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors that extract cholesterol from the bloodstream. The lack of sufficient LDL receptors is a major cause of cholesterol-related diseases. In 1985, Goldstein and Brown were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.