A multi-institutional team, led by Darell Bigner, MD, PhD, director of the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke and the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation Institute, has been named recipient of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Team Science Award. The award recognizes an outstanding interdisciplinary research team for its innovative and meritorious scientific work that has advanced or will likely advance cancer research, detection, diagnosis, prevention or treatment.
Twenty-six faculty members comprise the Duke University/Johns Hopkins University/National Cancer Institute (NCI) Malignant Brain Tumor Team, which was selected because of the immense impact their research has had on understanding of the biology of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common and lethal type of brain cancer. Fewer than 4 percent of patients survive to five years following diagnosis. Working together against this cancer, the team identified several major genetic aberrations in GBM tumors that provided novel insights. One of their first discoveries was the amplification of a gene called GLI in GBMs. This gene has since been found to be a critical component of the Hedgehog signaling pathway and continues to be subject of intense research in both cancer and developmental biology.
Read the press release including the complete list of honorees: http://www.aacr.org/Newsroom/Pages/News-Release-Detail.aspx?ItemID=472#.VYsKwe1VhHw