LICR Scientific Advisory Committee Welcomes José Baselga, M.D.
José Baselga, M.D.
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Dr. José Baselga to the LICR Scientific Advisory Committee. Dr. Baselga is Professor of Medicine at the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona and the Scientific Chairman of the Spanish Breast Cancer cooperative group, SOLid Tumor Intensification (SOLTI).
During the last year, Dr. Baselga and his colleagues have obtained evidence that the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-K)/AKT/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway is a promising target for breast cancer treatment. Their studies have produced strong evidence that the Insulin-like Growth Factor Receptor-1 (IGF-1R) is an important regulator of survival, and that combined blockage of IGF-1R and mTOR deserves further clinical study. Dr. Baselga and his group are currently trying to characterize the relationship between the expression of an incomplete, truncated form of the p95 receptor and a response to trastuzumab and HER2 tyrosine kinase receptors (TKIs).
“Historically, LICR has put a lot of effort into the development of antibodies and vaccines that target tumors,” said Dr. Richard D. Kolodner (LICR Executive Director for Laboratory Sciences and Technology and Member, San Diego Branch). “In the future, we will likely be diversifying the types of therapeutic approaches that we are interested in, and Dr. Baselga will be integral in helping us to do that successfully. He is a great addition to the Scientific Advisory Committee.”
The Scientific Advisory Committee is a group of distinguished independent scientists and clinicians that assists LICR in determining and managing the scientific mission, policies, and operation of its scientific and clinical activities. For example, the Committee deals with issues of qualification, appointment, and succession of the Institute’s scientific and clinical personnel, such as the Branch Directors.
Committee members are expected to: attend four committee meetings per year, visit one or two Braches per year, and make themselves available during the year to advise senior LICR Administration on scientific and policy matters. Dr. Baselga joins Drs. Phillip Sharp, Lucy Shapiro, Sam Hellman, and Douglas Fearon on the Scientific Advisory Committee.
Dr. Phillip A. Sharp is Founding Director of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was named Institute Professor in 1999. For his work on RNA splicing, Dr. Sharp shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Dr. Richard Roberts. He is a Member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, USA; the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, USA; and the American Philosophical Society, USA. Dr. Sharp is cofounder of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Biogen, and serves on both companies’ Board of Directors.
Dr. Lucy Shapiro is a Professor of Developmental Biology and Ludwig Professor of Cancer Research at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She is also director of Stanford’s Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine. Dr. Shapiro is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is also a Member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, USA; the American Academy of Microbiology, USA; and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, USA. She has also received the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology’s (FASEB) Excellence in Science Award. Dr. Shapiro and her team are working to define the complete genetic circuitry linking cell specification and the cell cycle in Caulobacter crescentus.
Dr. Samuel Hellman is the A.N. Pritzker Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago Department of Radiation and Cellular Oncology. Dr. Hellman’s clinical studies have focused on breast cancer, prostate cancer, and lymphoma, and his laboratory investigations have focused on the cell kinetics of the hematopoietic system. Dr. Hellman is the coeditor of Cancer: Principles and Practice of Oncology. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, USA. Dr. Hellman is a member of the Board of Directors of Varian Associates, and of the Board of Trustees and the Executive Committee of The Brookings Institution. He is the recipient of both the Medal of the City of Paris and of the University of Helsinki.
Dr. Douglas T. Fearon is the Sheila Joan Smith Professor of Immunology at the University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine (U.K.). Dr. Fearon and his team are working to identify the factors additional to BCL6b that are necessary for the self-renewal of CD8+ T-cells. They would also like to determine how these cells block senescence and keep their ability to replicate. Dr. Fearon is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, USA.