In the Szeged Scientists series of articles, we introduce people with connections to Szeged and who work in some branch of science. In this week's episode, award-winning Hungarian physician Széchenyi is a dermatologist, immunologist, allergist, university professor, and corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
His professional path
Lagos Kemeny was born on April 14, 1959 in Szeged. Széchenyi Award-winning Hungarian physician, dermatologist, immunologist, allergist, university professor, corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Director of the Dermatology and Allergy Clinic at the St. György Albert Clinical Center at the Faculty of Medicine (ÁOK) of the University of Szeged, Lead Professor of the Department, Head of the Dermatology Research Group at MTA-SZTE, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Szeged. His career Lagos Kemeny was born on April 14, 1959 in Szeged. He completed his high school studies within the walls of Istvan Tomorcini High School in Szeged. In 1983, he obtained his general medicine degree from Szeged University of Medical Sciences (SZOTE). Since obtaining his medical degree, he has worked at the Dermatology and Allergy Clinic at SZOTE (successor to the University of Szeged since 2000), as a clinician until 1987, then as a teaching assistant until 1993. Meanwhile, in 1990, he obtained the degree of Candidate of Medicine From 1990 to 1991, as a Humboldt Researcher, he conducted research at the Dermatology Clinic of the Lajos-Mixa University in Munich.
In 1993, he was appointed assistant professor, in 1996 he obtained his qualification, and in 1997 he obtained the title of associate professor. In 1998 he received a doctorate from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In 2001, he conducted research at the Dermatology Clinic of the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf as a visiting professor. In 2002, he was appointed university professor. In 2004, he was appointed Head of the Department of Dermatology and Allergology at the Szent György Albert Clinical Center at SZTE. From 2006 to 2014, he was Vice-Rector of ÁOK SZTE, then since 2014 he was Vice-Rector for Science and Innovation at SZTE. Since 2007, he has been Head of the Doctoral School of Clinical Medicine at SZTE ÁOK. In 2019, he was elected a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He holds 23 patents related to phototherapy, biotechnology, and molecular biology, and was among the first to discover HHV8 in classic Kaposi's sarcoma and Merkel cell polyomavirus in Merkel cell carcinoma.
He was the first to identify Toll receptors to recognize bacteria on epithelial cells of the skin and vaginal mucosa, and to describe their role in innate immunity.
It was found that the acne skin phenotype increases the production of inflammatory cytokines in a certain way and contributes to the inflammation seen in acne. In epithelial cells, he identified a protein (COP1) that plays an important role in the cellular effects of UV radiation. His research group developed xenon chloride excimer laser therapy for the treatment of skin diseases. He was the first to use xenon chloride excimer laser treatment to treat psoriasis, hypopigmentation, and atopic dermatitis. He developed a new phototherapy procedure to treat hay fever.
