Scientist Honored for Groundbreaking Studies of Genetic Interference with Chemotherapy and Tumor Development
The professorship was established in 2000 in honor of NFCR founders Tamara and Franklin Salisbury, Sr., to recognize a senior scientist at the level of associate professor or professor who currently is engaged in an active research career anywhere in the world, and who has demonstrated extraordinary achievement in basic cancer research.
It is awarded to an individual who shows promise for continued substantive contributions to basic cancer research, and is intended to foster the research productivity of the recipient by enabling him or her to devote more time to basic research. The professorship provides a one-year grant of $50,000 in support of direct research expenses, beginning July 1, 2004.
Of the several awards given by the AACR - the world's oldest and largest professional society representing cancer scientists from the United States and more than 60 other countries - the AACR-NFCR professorship honors and fosters world class accomplishments among scientists still at a relatively early stage of their careers in basic research, clinical care, therapeutics and prevention.
"Dr. Lowe's finding that genetic mutations influence the selection of cancer cells for programmed cell death puts him at the threshold of significant advances in chemotherapy," said AACR chief executive officer Margaret Foti, Ph.D., M.D. (h.c.), adding, "His accomplishments to date are evidence of his potential for further stellar work in cancer research.
"In addition to his demonstration that mutations in the p53 tumor suppressor gene are a primary cause of resistance to apoptosis in cancer cells, Dr. Lowe has shown that the p53 pathway, including proteins such as p19, Arf, Apaf-1 and capase-9, is responsible for inducing apoptosis in cancer cells in response to chemotherapeutic agents."
NFCR science director Sujuan Ba, Ph.D., added, "Chemotherapy today remains the most used technique for battling cancer and Dr. Lowe is on the front lines of this research. His research in the genetic understanding of cellular life and death is exactly what will allow us to continue to make gains in how cancer is treated, diagnosed and eventually defeated."
Lowe's early research focused on the relationship between p53 gene mutation status and the resistance of cancer cells to radiation and chemotherapy. Currently, he and his colleagues are beginning to assemble the genetic components of the p53 pathway into a tumor suppressor network, with the intent of discovering how oncogenes or DNA damaging agents signal p53, how p53 responds biologically, and the factors that influence whether p53 induces a cell-cycle checkpoint, senescence or apoptosis. He has also employed mouse models for human cancer, such as the Eµ-myc oncogene-induced lymphoma in the mouse, to study cancer progression and the relationship between cancer mutations and the response of genetically defined tumors to therapy.
Previously, Lowe was honored by the AACR with its 2001 Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research, for his work on the p53 tumor suppressor gene; and, in 1993, he received an AACR Scholar-in-Training Award on the strength of his cell death research.
Tamara and Franklin Salisbury, Sr., founded the NFCR in 1973. Franklin, an attorney and entrepreneur, and Tamara, a research chemist at the National Cancer Institute and a project officer in the chemistry branch of the Office of Naval Research, were inspired by the work of Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, who received the Nobel Prize for his discovery of vitamin C.
Founded in 1907, the American Association for Cancer Research is a professional society of more than 22,000 laboratory, translational, and clinical scientists engaged in cancer research in the United States and in more than 60 other countries. AACR's mission is to accelerate the prevention and cure of cancer through research, education, communication, and advocacy.
Its principal activities include the publication of five major peer-reviewed scientific journals: Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; and Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. AACR's Annual Meetings attract more than 15,000 participants who share new and significant discoveries in the cancer field. Specialty meetings, held throughout the year, focus on the latest developments in all areas of cancer research.
Since its founding in 1973, the National Foundation for Cancer Research has spent more than $200 million funding basic science cancer research and public education focused on understanding how and why cells become cancerous. This worldwide "laboratory without walls" assembles the intellectual power to achieve one of medicine's greatest goals: a cure for cancer-all types of cancer. Prevention, new treatments, and a cure depend on understanding cancer's genetic origins; NFCR is dedicated to funding scientists who are discovering cancer's molecular mysteries and translating these discoveries into therapies that hold the only real hope for curing cancer.
Contact:
Warren Froelich
Phone: 215/440-9300 ext. 198
E-mail: froelich@aacr.org
Elizabeth J. Tait
Phone: 215/440-9300 Ext. 144
E-mail: tait@aacr.org
Silas Deane
National Foundation for Cancer Research
Phone: 301/654-1250 ext. 105
E-mail: Sdeane@nfcr.org
American Association for Cancer Research
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