ROBERT WEINBERG


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Weinberg

(January 13, 2015) Robert Allan Weinberg (born November 11, 1942) is a biologist Daniel K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), director of the Ludwig Center of the MIT and American Cancer Society Research Professor; his research is in the area of oncogenes and the genetic basis of human cancer.[2][3][4]
Robert Weinberg is also affiliated with the Broad Institute and is a founding member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. He co-teaches MIT course 7.012 (introductory biology) with Eric Lander. Weinberg and Lander are among the co-founders of Verastem, biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing drugs to treat cancer by targeting cancer stem cells.[5]

Research[edit]

He is best known for his discoveries of the first human oncogene Ras and the first tumor suppressor gene Rb[6]p. 371-381, which is partially documented in Natalie Angier′s book, Natural Obsessions, about her year spent in Weinberg's lab.
In the late 20th century, advances in genetics lead to the discovery of over one hundred cancer cell types. Cancer cells were noted for their bewildering diversity. It was hard to identify the principles that cancers had in common.
He and Douglas Hanahan wrote the seminal paper, "The Hallmarks of Cancer", published in January 2000,[7] that gave the six requirements for one renegade cell to cause a deadly cancer:[6] In 2011, they published an updated review article entitled "Hallmarks of cancer: the next generation".[8]
Summary
CapabilitySimple analogy
Self-sufficiency in growth signals"accelerator pedal stuck on"
Insensitivity to anti-growth signals"brakes don't work"
Evading apoptosiswon't die when the body normally would kill the defective cell
Limitless replicative potentialinfinite generations of descendants
Sustained angiogenesisasking the body to give it a blood supply
Tissue invasion and metastasismigrating and spreading to other organs and tissues
Weinberg is well known for both his cancer research[9] and for his mentorship of many eminent scientists, including Tyler Jacks, Clifford Tabin and Cornelia Bargmann. He is currently studying cancer cell metastasis.[10]
He is also the author of the textbook The Biology of Cancer[1] published by Garland Science.

Awards and honors[edit]

Weinberg won the National Medal of Science and the Keio Medical Science Prize in 1997. In 1999, he received the Albert Einstein World Award of Science in recognition of his valuable and pioneering contributions in the field of Biomedical Sciences and for his productive trajectory related to the genetic and molecular basis of neoplastic disease.[11] He obtained the Wolf Prize in Medicine in 2004 (shared with Roger Y. Tsien), and he is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. In 2007 he received an honorary doctorate degree in commemoration of Linnaeus from Uppsala University. He is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences since 1992.[12] In 2009 he was presented the Hope Funds Award in Basic Research. In 2013 he was awarded the $3 million Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for his work.[13]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Genes and the Biology of Cancer (Scientific American Library Series, No. 42) by Harold E. Varmus and Robert A. Weinberg (Sep 1, 1992)

Molecular Oncology, 1e (Scientific American Introduction to Molecular Medicine) by J. Michael Bishop MD and Robert A. Weinberg PhD (Sep 15, 1996)

Oncogenes and the Molecular Origins of Cancer (Cold Spring Harbor Monograph Series) by Robert A. Weinberg (Mar 1990)

One Renegade Cell: How Cancer Begins (Science Masters Series) by Robert A. Weinberg (Oct 8, 1999)

Racing to the Beginning of the Road: Search for the Origin of Cancer by Robert A. Weinberg (1997)

The Biology of Cancer, 2nd Edition by Robert A. Weinberg (May 18, 2013)


No comments:

Post a Comment