2009 Presenter Full Presenter List

Josef Penninger

Prominent Genetics Investigator

Josef Penninger is a superstar in the world of science. As the medical researcher who discovered the master gene for osteoporosis, Penninger has been named to Canada's Top 40 Under 40 and Esquire's List of 10 Extraordinary Lives.

His laboratories at the Amgen Institute and Ontario Cancer Institute were ranked among the top 10 labs in the world in all fields of science for three straight years.

Josef is Senior Scientist and Scientific Director at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Vienna. In 2003, Penninger and his team identified the gene that regulates male specific fertility that is required for chromosomes in sperm cells to find their right partners.

An Adjunct Professor for the Departments of Immunology and Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto, he is Professor of Genetics at the University of Vienna. Previously, Penninger was awarded the Descartes Prize, the ESCI Award by the European Society for Clinical Investigation and the Medal of The Australian Society for Medical Research.