Bert Vogelstein aims to develop new prevention and treatment strategies based on the genetic alterations that drive tumorigenesis. Vogelstein and his team have identified some of the most common mutations that initiate tumors or cause them to progress, and have characterized the signaling pathways through which they act. One of the team’s most important discoveries in this area was that a relatively small number of genes plays a major role in most human cancer types. Currently, they focus on using this core set of cancer driver genes to develop novel methods for identifying cancers at an early stage, and to devise novel therapeutic approaches for exploiting the vulnerabilities these mutations cause.
In the mid-1980s, HHMI Investigator Robert F. Siliciano began studying a relatively new pathogen as a postdoc. When he began his own lab, he focused exclusively on the virus: HIV. In a surprising new finding in mice, researchers have discovered that many genes linked to human cancer block the body’s natural defense against malignancies. A clinical trial in people with the new coronavirus is testing a drug that may halt an overactive immune response before it ramps up. Three HHMI scientists are among 11 honored for excellence in research aimed at curing intractable diseases and extending human life. A new study reveals that many pancreatic tumors take nearly 20 years to become lethal after the first genetic perturbations appear, suggesting an opportunity for early diagnosis. Metastatic colon cancers carry the ability to metastasize from the time they become cancerous, and don’t need to acquire any new genetic mutations to become metastatic.