Professor Andrew L. Kung

Columbia University Medical Center, New York, USA

Identification of novel therapeutic strategies for brain tumors

The Centre for Systems Medicine is pleased to announce another speaker of our seminar series. Professor Andrew L. Kung is Chief of the Division of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. Professor Kung earned his MD and PhD degrees from Stanford University School of Medicine in 1994, and did his post-graduate medical training at the Boston Children’s Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). Professor Kung was on staff at the DFCI and Harvard Medical School for 12 years, and recently assumed a leadership position at Columbia University. His research program is focused on novel cancer target discovery and drug development.

The talk will be held in the Albert Lecture Theatre, RCSI on Monday 3^rd of December 2012 at 4.30 pm.

Anthony Letai, MD, PhD

Associate Professor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA

Mitochondria: cancer’s crystal ball

The Centre for Systems Medicine is pleased to announce the latest speaker in our seminar series.

Dr. Letai’s research aims to bring a detailed, mechanistic understanding of how the BCL-2 family of proteins governs commitment to apoptosis and chemosensitivity in cancer cells to improving and personalizing cancer therapy in patients. He has applied studies across many types of cancers, including lung, breast, ovarian, lymphoma and leukemia.   To this end, he developed a unique tool, BH3 profiling, that measures sensitivity of mitochondria to pro-death signals.  BH3 profiling has proved very useful in understanding and predicting response to chemotherapy in vitro and in the clinic.   Given that many target therapies also utilize the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway to kill cancer cells, he continues to explore ways to utilize BH3 profiling as a predictive biomarker for response to targeted therapies in vitro and in vivo.

Dr. Letai earned his PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology in 1993 and his MD in 1995 from the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. He then commenced a fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and was introduced to apoptosis and BCL-2 family proteins as a post-doctoral researcher in the laboratory of the late Stanley Korsmeyer.

The talk will be held in the Albert Theatre, RCSI on Thursday 08^th of November 2012 at 4 pm.

A project called APO-DECIDE (Apoptosis Modelling for Treatment Decisions in
Colorectal Cancer) has received EU FP7 funding. This initiative is led by RCSI, Professor Jochen Prehn, in conjunction with OncoMark Ltd., Queen’s University Belfast, Université Paris Descarte, Optimata Ltd. and Klinikum Der Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe Universitaet, ‘APO-DECIDE’ will create tools and tests to help oncologists
predict which patients will benefit from certain forms of therapy.  The
two-year project began in November 2012.

For more information please see Apo-Decide project website