Like Hobbs, Bert Vogelstein of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine works with large pools of data collected from patients—in his case, patients with cancer. Studying tumors of the pancreas, brain, colon, and breast, Vogelstein and his colleagues have built complex maps to chart gene mutations and the biochemical pathways they alter. The results may change how new drugs are developed. The researchers found 280 genes mutated in breast and colon cancers—a daunting array of potential targets for any scientist seeking to develop new therapies—but the mutated genes were involved in only 15 pathways. Vogelstein hopes to use this knowledge to create tools to detect cancer early and prevent it from progressing.

Cancer remains one of the most challenging clinical problems—in part because it is so closely tied to normal cell function—and HHMI scientists are approaching it from many different angles. Robert Darnell of the Rockefeller University works with small numbers of patients whose bodies mount a powerful immune response to cancer. These rare individuals—only one in 10,000 patients with breast or ovarian cancer—fend off the cancer but in the process produce antibodies that cause serious neurological problems. Darnell is now taking knowledge he's gained from studying these individuals to devise customized vaccines for brain tumor patients. The approach is now being tested in a phase 2 clinical trial at Rockefeller.

The common thread that connects these scientists—and dozens of others in the HHMI community—is their dedication to directing the tools of modern biology toward alleviating human suffering. And the common refrain we hear from the people who contact HHMI—even when we cannot give them what they most want, a cure or a treatment—is sincere gratitude. For each of us at HHMI, our challenge is to repay that gratitude by living up to the Institute's bold mission by supporting the very best science, from the most basic studies through translational research. My recently named successor, Professor Robert Tjian of the University of California, Berkeley, will undoubtedly find new ways to advance that commitment when he becomes president of HHMI in April 2009.

	PAGE 2 OF 2	Back