General Motors Awards $750,000 for Cancer Research
30 April 1999
Cancer Scientists Receive Prestigious Honors; General Motors Awards $750,000 for Cancer Research
DETROIT, April 30 -- Four world-renowned scientists have been
recognized by the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation for their seminal
contributions to cancer research.
The award recipients are Arnold J. Levine, Ph.D., president of
The Rockefeller University; Ronald Levy, M.D., professor of Medicine and
Oncology and chief of the Division of Oncology at Stanford University; Robert
G. Roeder, Ph.D., professor and head of the Laboratory of Biochemistry and
Molecular Biology at The Rockefeller University; and Robert Tjian, Ph.D.,
professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California at
Berkeley.
Dr. Levine has been awarded the Charles S. Mott Prize for the isolation,
cloning, and characterization of the biological properties of the p53 tumor
suppressor gene. The Mott Prize honors the most outstanding recent
contribution to the discovery of the cause or ultimate prevention of human
cancer.
Dr. Levy has been honored with the Charles F. Kettering Prize for
demonstrating that the administration of monoclonal antibodies can produce
objective clinical responses in patients with B cell lymphomas. The Kettering
Prize recognizes the most outstanding recent contribution to the diagnosis or
treatment of cancer.
Dr. Roeder and Dr. Tjian will share the Alfred P. Sloan Prize for their
discoveries on the mechanism and regulation of gene transcription in
eukaryotic cells. The Sloan Prize honors the most outstanding recent basic
science contribution to cancer research.
The awards will be presented during a ceremony at the U.S. Department of
State in Washington, D.C. on June 9.
Dr. Samuel A. Wells, Jr., President of the GM Cancer Research Foundation,
and Dr. Phillip A. Sharp, Chairman of the Awards Assembly, praised the award
winners and cited their major contributions to combating this deadly disease.
They noted that the awardees were chosen through a rigorous review process
conducted by distinguished international scientists who served on the
Foundation's Selection Committees and Awards Assembly.
Mott Prize winner Dr. Levine became head of The Rockefeller University,
the nation's first medical research institute, in December 1998. He is a
leading authority on the molecular basis of cancer, and is perhaps best known
for his discoveries about p53, one of our cells' master genes, and one of the
most important defenses against many forms of cancer.
Over the past decade, scientists have determined that p53 abnormalities
are associated with more than half of all human cancers. As a result, p53 is
a major focus of research in laboratories around the world.
"When I was a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania in the
late 1960s, I wanted to understand what caused cancer in human beings,"
Dr. Levine said. "At that time, we knew very little, but one of the wonderful
things about science is that you follow the leads and see where they can take
you."
Kettering Prize winner Dr. Levy received his B.A. from Harvard University
and his M.D. from Stanford University, where he studied under Dr. Henry
Kaplan, the first Kettering Prize winner. It was Dr. Kaplan, together with
his colleague Dr. Saul Rosenberg, who inspired Dr. Levy to work in the field
of cancer research.
"Dr. Kaplan and Dr. Rosenberg combined a knowledge of disease with their
dedication as caretakers of patients," Dr. Levy said. "That's the model I've
had in front of me for my entire career. Being a medical doctor keeps you in
touch with the disease you're working on because you use the current
treatments on a daily basis. You know firsthand what works and what doesn't."
Sloan Prize winner Dr. Roeder explained that over the years he has become
increasingly interested in the applications of his research. "We need not
only to understand the mechanisms underlying normal gene expression, but to
relate these to important medical problems at the same time," he said. "There
is none greater than the cancer problem. I began my career in the early days
of understanding what vertebrate genes were and how they function. As we
become familiar with the fundamentals of how genes work, we get closer to
understanding cancer."
Dr. Roeder's co-winner, Dr. Tjian, agreed and said that he expects that
the next five to ten years will bring significant breakthroughs in the areas
of breast cancer and prostate cancer, due in part to the type of research
conducted in his and Dr. Roeder's laboratories. "Our research focuses on the
root mechanisms that affect all cancers," he explained. "Others will use our
data to come up with better diagnostics and treatments."
Cancer research is a key philanthropic priority for General Motors. As
part of this commitment, the automaker established the GM Cancer Research
Foundation (GMCRF) in 1978 to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of
basic scientists and clinical scientists in cancer research around the world.
"We believe strongly in giving back to the community," said John F. Smith,
Jr., Chairman and CEO of General Motors. "Through these awards, we hope to
bring some of the world's most gifted scientists just that much closer to
curing, treating and preventing cancer in the future."
The awards, valued at $250,000 each, are among the most prestigious in the
field of medicine. To date, GMCRF has awarded over $9 million to
83 scientists, in an effort to focus worldwide scientific and public attention
on cancer research. Seven winners have subsequently won Nobel prizes.
Past laureates include E. Donnall Thomas, M.D., who developed the
technique of bone marrow transplantation; J. Christopher Wagner, M.D., who
discovered the link between asbestos exposure and lung cancer; and Samuel
Shapiro, B.S. and Philip Strax, M.D., who demonstrated the importance of
mammograms in improving survival in women with breast cancer.
The four laureates will receive their awards at a ceremony that concludes
GMCRF's Annual Scientific Conference, June 8-9 at the National Institutes of
Health in Bethesda, Maryland. The conference, which focuses on genetic
instability and cancer, will include lectures by this year's prize winners
describing their research.