THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2017
RECEPTION 6:00 P.M. | PROGRAM 6:30 P.M.
The Rockefeller University, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Hall
1230 York Avenue at East 66th Street
HOST
President
The Rockefeller University
SPEAKER
Leon Hess Associate Professor
Elizabeth and Vincent Meyer Laboratory of Systems Cancer Biology
The Rockefeller University
Each year, millions of people die from cancer worldwide. While there are many different types of cancer, most cancer fatalities can be attributed to one process: metastasis. Metastatic cells have acquired the ability to move from a primary tumor, seeding additional tumors in other areas of the body. A key factor in cancer treatment failure, metastasis is responsible for more than 90 percent of cancer-related deaths.
While much has been revealed over the past few decades about the molecular events that turn a cell cancerous, the properties that enable cancer cells to form metastatic colonies have remained largely mysterious. Only in recent years have biologists been able to tackle this very complex phenomenon. One of the pioneers in metastasis research is Sohail Tavazoie, M.D., Ph.D., Leon Hess Associate Professor at The Rockefeller University. In addition to heading the University’s Elizabeth and Vincent Meyer Laboratory of Systems Cancer Biology, Dr. Tavazoie is a member of Rockefeller’s Anderson Center for Cancer Research, a senior attending physician at The Rockefeller University Hospital, and an attending medical oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering.
Dr. Tavazoie’s research is shedding light on metastasis in breast cancer, colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, and melanoma. He has discovered several pathways involving molecules known as microRNAs, and shown how these pathways can promote or suppress metastasis. The Tavazoie laboratory has demonstrated, for example, that some cancer cells gain a metastatic advantage by throwing a biochemical switch to “overproduce” multiple microRNAs that promote metastasis. Such discoveries have enabled them to develop experimental therapeutics that may be effective in preventing metastatic relapse in patients. Dr. Tavazoie has received many honors for his work, including a 2015 Pershing Square Sohn Prize for Young Investigators in Cancer Research. Last year, he was named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Faculty Scholar.
This evening will be hosted by Richard P. Lifton, M.D., Ph.D., president of The Rockefeller University. Before joining the University in September 2016, Dr. Lifton was Chair of the Department of Genetics at Yale University. A renowned geneticist, he received the 2014 Breakthrough Prize.
Please contact Erin Moyer with questions at (212) 327-8183 or emoyer@rockefeller.edu.